Italian energy company Enel has launched WinDesign, an international contest aimed at designing innovative wind turbines that are integrated with the surrounding environment and have minimal impact on the landscape.
The contest is aimed at architectural firms, engineering companies, start-ups, universities and students from all over the world, with the aim of collecting new ideas and solutions that integrate functionality, design, innovation and sustainability into wind turbines. It represents a global challenge to give a new look to sustainable energy, with solutions that combine technological advancement and design.
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According to the company, WinDesign will stimulate the best creatives and engineers to conceive, design and implement new solutions developed according to criteria of reduced environmental and landscape impact, technical–functional suitability and flexibility of use, as well as economic and financial sustainability, respect for local communities and compliance with current regulations.
The contest has officially opened. Its first phase requires drawings and projects to be filed by midnight on 16 June. Projects that make it through to the next phase will receive a prize of €5,000 euros.
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The second and final phase will start on 1 July and admitted candidates will have until midnight on 29 September to submit a detailed project and a technical–economic report on the feasibility of the proposed solutions. The top three will receive prizes of €250,000, €150,000 and €50,000 respectively. In addition, three non-cumulative special awards of €15,000 each will be awarded for three categories: Design, Technical–Economic Feasibility and Innovation and Sustainability.
The project is being hosted on www.openinnovability.enel.com, a crowdsourcing platform developed by Enel specifically for the search for innovative solutions using the brightest ideas and technologies in circulation, whether they come from start-ups, companies, academia or investors.
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Further details about the competition can be found here.