2025 ORGANISATION

When

The  fourth edition of the challenge runs in the academic year of 2024 to 2025:

​

• 16 September 2024: start of the registration for the competition

• 19 January 2025: abstract deadline - 1 page A4 flyer containing:

  • Sketch or 3D drawing of the floating concept (competition scale)

  • Details of the participants (photo, name, university/company, year of study/position ..)​​

  • Explanation about standout features of your concept​

• 2 February 2025: Abstract feedback from evaluation committee

  • Selected student teams​ are eligible for a budget of 1000€ for fabrication costs (+ turbine)

• 2 May 2025: Report & structure deadline 

  • Page limit for reports: 40 pages

  • Video showing the floating structure + moorings & anchors

  • In select countries, a local competition may be organised

• 16 May 2025: Feedback on safety review and final approval to join the competition event by the evaluation committee​

• ​Week of 7 - 11 July 2025: International final competition event​​​ & other activities

​

Who

Groups of young engineers can participate in the challenge. Different options for entering the competition are:

​

• It could be integrated as part of a problem solving and design course at a university, where a group of students work on a specific topic (e.g. KU Leuven has such group courses in 1st and 2nd year of engineering that run over one semester and are about 4 ECTS).

• Groups of university or high school students (18+) can sign up for the challenge as part of extra curricular activities. We advise to have supervision from e.g. a professor or an industry professional in the offshore wind industry to help guide the group in the competition.​

​

Students from all levels (high school, undergraduate, graduate and PhD level) can participate in the challenge. In case of questions, please send us an email.

​

What

The groups have to design and build a floating wind turbine structure. In the 2025 edition, the structure needs to meet the following requirements:

​

• Turbine: Vevor 400W wind turbine

• Hub height: 1.20m above water level ±10cm

• Water depth: min. 1m - max. 2m

The structure is evaluated using the following criteria: 

​

• Power generation efficiency (Efficiency losses caused by dynamic wind/wave interaction) - 20pts

• Structural integrity (Support structure design) - 20pts

• Foundation stability (FOU - Foundations/anchors and moorings) - 20pts

• Practicality of construction (T&I - Transport and Installation) - 20pts

• Cost efficiency at full scale (Materials & fabrication cost) - 20pts

​

A panel, consisting of industry and academic experts in offshore wind, evaluates the criteria at the competition event.

​​​​​

​

Where

This is a global competition and groups of young engineers from across the world can participate in it. The preliminary location for the final competition is indicated in the image below.

​

​

Prize

​

There are two separate prizes of 1000€ for the competition based on the performance of the structure in the field and the written report.