On a Thursday around 3 p.m. in mid-November, mechanical engineering sophomore Liv Hoffsis and her fellow wind power engineers began testing the wind turbine they had toiled long months over.
They arrived on an abandoned road, eager to put their work into action. Technical bugs slowed down the process. Rain started pouring down, so the team hastily covered the turbine with plastic bags. Finally, they could mount the turbine on a car and begin testing. The numbers measuring the turbine power were low at first. After hours of stopping, fixing and re-testing, Hoffsis checked the numbers again – they were perfect. To cap it off, “the sun was setting. It was stunning.” These students will soon take center stage at the annual Collegiate Wind Competition May 5 – 9 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Cal Poly Wind Power club is among the final 12 teams from across the country elected for the third and final phase of the competition, hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy, according to the competition website. The competition features three distinct components – connection creation, project development and turbine development.
The club was tasked with designing a small wind turbine, planning a large-scale wind farm and performing outreach to promote wind power in the community, club president Trevor Ortega said. 14 students will be representing Cal Poly, out of the club’s 25 active members.
There’s a host of factors judges consider, he added.
“[For the turbine design competition], power and efficiency, controllability, safety and durability are the main ones,” the mechanical engineering junior said. “And for the project development, we’re looking at how well thought it is? How viable is the design plan? How accurate is the financial analysis? And then for the connection creation contest that’s looking at our engagement, what events we’ve put on? How successful they’ve been? Those sorts of things.”
Ortega said the team is overwhelmingly positive – a team that genuinely cares for the environment and has supported each other through this process.
This is the first time the team has advanced to the final stage after having been involved in the competitions since 2020. As soon as the last competition wrapped up, they began prepping, Ortega said.
Drawing on their previous experience, the team has been able to work under an accelerated timeline, according to Ortega.
Ortega goes on to describe the turbine – “It’s a pretty small turbine. It’s like a 45 centimeter rotor diameter, so it fits in the fluid lab, wind tunnel, so we can test it. It’s three bladed horizontal axis turbines. So a similar sort of horizontal style to the large wind turbine,” he said.
The team’s outreach lead, Hoffsis, focused on community engagement: speaking to local schools, inviting professionals to speak to the club, organizing networking events and more.
They even teamed up with the Society of Women Engineers for “Build an Engineer Day” where club members taught local middle school students about wind turbines and wind bower.
“We had this competition where they had to make the best blades and then we put it on this small turbine, and we competed to see who could make the most power,” she said.
These opportunities give the team the chance to “tell people who aren’t engineers about wind power and really get like the broader community involved in wind power.”
Hoffsis attributes Cal Poly’ resources as a part of the team’s success.
“We’re at Cal Poly, we have access to the Mustang Shops. The shops on campus are some of the best in the nation,” Hoffsis said. “That really gives us the ability to make a much more durable and precise turbine.”
Club vice president and mechanical engineering senior Nora Riedinger has been involved with Cal Poly Wind Power club for the duration of her college experience. She had always been interested in renewables, but this experience fueled her passion.
She has moved through the leadership ranks and also has seen the club evolve through different iterations.
When actively competing began in her sophomore year, “It really brought us all together towards a really common goal and we just all work so hard, and I feel like we are more unified,” Riedinger said.
A focus of the club is knowledge transfer. Graduating seniors commit themselves to help underclassmen get involved and share their experience to build upon.
As she enters into the workforce, Riedinger capitalizes on her wind power experience. During interviews, she draws upon her learned experience of leadership, machining, designing and outreach.
“We love the turbine building part, but it’s not just that,” she said. “It’s learning about the industry, making industry connections, and that’s something that’s been really valuable to gain.”
To learn more about Cal Poly Wind Power Club and their journey, visit their website.