Four Madison high school students won the overall top award in the Windstorm Challenge 2012 at the University of Maine campus for development of a floating offshore wind turbine platform model, reported The Portland Press Herald.
The award opens a door for Matt Soucy to get a four year scholarship worth USD 20,000 at the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center.
The remaining team members, Jess Theberge and Travis Emerson will attend Maine Maritime Academy, while Stephen Cusson voiced his plans to join the U.S. Marine Corps.
The scale model, which students jokingly named the Floating Beast, was designed to represent a platform that would be floated 20 miles off shore, where the water is too deep to anchor to the ocean floor. The composite material used in the construction of the platform does not deteriorate in water, so it does not pollute the water or endanger wildlife.
“Our platform needed to be able to withstand waves to see which platform would move the least in waves and wind to see if it would stay afloat and didn’t tip over,” Jess Theberge said.
He added that offshore wind turbine can be as big as needed and it is not a blot on the landscape, but rather beneficial.
The events were sponsored by the Maine-based DeepCwind Consortium, a national leader in deepwater offshore wind technology.
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Offshore WIND staff, May 10, 2012; Image: DeepCwind