Winds Rise in Chiayi! The 2024 Chiafeng Cup STEAM+ KidWind Sustainable Wind Energy Invitational Concludes in Style
The 2024 Chiafeng Cup STEAM+ KidWind Sustainable Wind Energy Invitational, hosted by National Chiayi University and co-organized by the Asia-Pacific Energy & Science Education Association, was successfully held at Daye Experimental Junior High School in Chiayi. Open to teachers and students from schools across Chiayi City and County, the event combined competition with educational training in a rich, learn-through-play format.
On the day of the event, AESEA Chairman Professor Chou Chien-Heng opened the morning with an engaging keynote lecture on wind energy, giving participating students a thorough introduction to the field. The students showed tremendous enthusiasm for learning and had prepared extensively in advance. The teams then used KidWind wind-energy kits to design and modify turbine blades by hand — experimenting with variables such as blade count, shape, angle of attack, gear ratio, and resistance — and measured each team's power-generation efficiency in a wind tunnel. The competition segment was full of challenges, and students learned by doing, sparking creativity and passion for wind-energy technology.
Judging was conducted by four distinguished experts: Professor Chou Chien-Heng (AESEA Chairman / Vanung University), Professor Shih Yu-Hsi (Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, National Chiayi University), Professor Li Yu-Li (Department of Physics, National Changhua University of Education), and Professor Tang Wen-Hua (Institute of Learning Sciences and Technologies, National Tsing Hua University). From their professional perspectives, the judges affirmed the students' creativity and technical performance.
The event not only gave Chiayi's teachers and students a full taste of the appeal of wind energy, but also delivered new knowledge and skills through competition and learning. Through this entertaining yet educational contest, students demonstrated boundless potential for innovative applications of wind power, and we look forward to more students joining the official competition circuit to test themselves against top teams from across the country.
Special thanks go to this year's convener, Professor Su Chiung-Wu of the Department of Electrophysics at National Chiayi University, whose dedicated planning is helping sustainable energy and STEAM education flourish in Chiayi and inspiring more young students to pursue research and applications in energy science.
