Young engineers breeze into wind turbine final

Six students from Maidstone have won a trip to Denmark, funded by London Array and hosted by DONG Energy one of the partners in London Array, after building a workable wind turbine in a countywide competition.

The contest saw young people from schools across Kent become engineers for two days where they were challenged to design, build and test their own working wind turbine.  During the challenge the students were assisted by London Array, DONG Energy and Windpower Renewable Solutions.

First prize went to Oakwood Park Grammar School, Maidstone, who won the three day trip to Denmark to visit a wind turbine manufacturer, a power station and an onshore wind farm.  Second prize went to St John’s RC Comprehensive, Gravesend who won a trip to Belfast to visit the Harland and Wolff shipyard and attend the Quo Vadis wind energy conference.  Students from The Skinners’ School, Tunbridge Wells, won the third place prize of vouchers.

Elias Dencker, Operations and Maintenance, DONG Energy, who presented the first prize award funded by London Array, said, “It was clear to see the enthusiasm and hard work that the wind turbine challenge students put into their business cases and designs, with the quality and calibre being consistently high.  There are potentially some promising wind energy engineers and professionals at this event, which encourages young people to learn new skills and explore different industries.”

The wind turbine challenge was delivered as part of a series of master-classes designed and organised by the 14-24 Innovation Team at Kent County Council in partnership with employers and other organisations.  The objective was to raise awareness of a variety of career options to young people in the 14-19 year old age group to support their future career options.