A multi-disciplinary team of FIU students came together to design a solar photovoltaic, the conversion of light into electricity, and storage system to maximize energy savings for 20 years as part of a new competition by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) called Solar District Cup.
Established in 2019, the Solar District Cup challenges student teams to design and model optimized distributed solar energy systems for a campus or urban district. The purpose of the competition is to inspire students to innovate integrated energy solutions for real-world neighborhoods.
The competition was divided into three districts: JBG Smith Crystal Parks, New Mexico State University (NMSU) and Ball State University (BSU). Twenty students from the College of Engineering & Computing (CEC) and two students from the College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts (CARTA) were assigned the BSU campus, located in Muncie, Indiana.
After an entire year of hard work, the team won first place in the competition’s BSU division, becoming one of the top three winners in the nation out of 61 participating universities.
Read more at FIU News.