The atmosphere in the Charlotte Amalie High School gymnasium was electric, so to speak, as 20 students representing eight high schools from the territory brought nine homemade wind turbines to see whose would produce the most electricity.
Charlotte Amalie High School pulled ahead in the interview and presentation section, but Sts. Peter and Paul made a big jump with its performance in the first wind tunnel tests.
But in the end, St. Croix Education Complex team took home top honors, winning the KidWind Challenge.
Other schools taking part were, from St. Croix, Manor School, St. Croix Career and Technical Education Center, and IQRA School and, from St. Thomas, All Saints Cathedral and Antilles Schools.
The Virgin Islands Energy Office, with help from the University of the Virgin Islands Caribbean Green Technology Center, worked for months helping high school students understand the technology of producing electricity using wind, and about career opportunities in that field. The effort came to a head in Saturday’s KidWind Challenge.
The students were supplied with basic kits for the turbines, but were free to use innovative ideas and materials in creating the blades, the gear ratios and the foundations for the turbines. VIEO and UVI staff judged the design of the turbines as well as their efficiency.
Student tested their turbines in the morning, after the interview section and before they were put in the tunnel to make official production readings.
“This brought our smart, technically minded youth out to demonstrate their innovativeness and ingenuity in the area of wind technology,” said Energy Office Director Karl Knight. “A lot of valuable educative lessons came out of this project.”
The early visits to the wind tunnel brought a couple of calamities, as turbines fell over or blades came off. But the teams were allowed to make adjustments before the real competition began in the afternoon.
This is the first year the U.S. Virgin Islands took part in the KidWind program, a national program. The Energy Office hopes to expand the program so that in the future, the winners from the territorial competition will be able to move on and compete in the national competition.
Gov. John deJongh Jr. attended Saturday’s event and expressed appreciation.
“This is an important event because it brings the technology of the future to our students today,” the governor said.
Energy Office spokesman Don Buchanan said sponsors made the event possible.
“Many in our community realize that the Virgin Islands needs to resolve the problem of high energy costs and are willing to support efforts to help those who are ultimately going to solve the problem – the youth,” he said.
