Students build jubilee wind turbine

A day before the turbine will be hoisted onto its foundations, students are hanging around ‘watching the paint dry’. They spent the previous days welding, wood working, and assembling the stator and the rotor. They also planed three slabs of wood into rotor blades. Then they painted all the parts. And now they’re waiting for the moment that they can assemble all the parts into a 700 Watt DIY wind turbine. On 1 July 2022, it will be put onto its foundations in the northeast corner of TU Delft’s Green Village. It’s a celebration of the second lustrum of the European Wind Energy Master (EWEM).

The installation of the wind turbine is the last in a number of events to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the four-university wind energy master. Wind Energy Professor Carlos Simão Ferreira (Faculty of Aerospace Engineering) talks about an earlier excursion to the offshore windfarm Fryslân (89 turbines in the IJsselmeer) and a reunion event for students, staff and alumni on 21 May 2022.

^{Wind energy students, staff, an alumni at the meeting on 21 May 2022 (Photo: TU Delft)}

Over the past 10 years, the European wind energy master has attracted 290 students, 90% of whom graduated within the nominal 24 months. Simão Ferreira calls them “a passionate group”. He is proud to announce that almost all EWEM graduates have gone onto a career in wind energy.

A defining characteristic of EWEM is the collaboration between four universities. TU Delft teamed up with the University of Oldenburg (Germany), the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Each of these has its own specialty: wind physics (Oldenburg), rotor design (DTU), electrical power systems (TU Delft) and offshore engineering (NTNU).

Students typically spend six months at each location. This educational carousel familiarises them with the different approaches and atmospheres at the institutes involved.

• More information about the master: windenergymaster.eu
• More information about the DIY wind turbine (mostly in French)