Madison, WI
May 17-20, 2026
We are excited to announce that the 2026 World KidWind Challenge will be at the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus from May 17th-20th.
Thank you to our sponsors at Google for helping make the this year's Worlds possible, and our partners at UW-Madison! We are still working to meet our fundraising needs for Worlds to happen. If you and your organization are interested in making a funding commitment to 2026 Worlds, please reach out to our Program Director, Meghan (Meghan@KidWind.org).
What is the World KidWind Challenge?
Each year KidWind invites top performing teams from wind and solar Challenges to compete in the World KidWind Challenge.
The KidWind team extends invites to top performing teams from In-Person Challenges across the US and world and the Online KidWind Challenge. Students in three grade-level divisions participate in the KW Challenge: 4-5th, 6-8th, and 9-12th.
Teams travel to Worlds to participate in several competition elements, attend fun events with students from other states, and explore opportunities to continue their passion for a clean energy future.
Types of Challenges
Wind Challenge
➜ Refine wind turbine design & bring to Worlds
➜ Test turbines in several wind tunnels with different wind speeds
➜ Present turbine design to panel of judges
➜ Participate in Instant Challenges & Quizbowl
Solar Challenge
➜ Refine solar home design & bring to Worlds
➜ Test solar home in Solar Test Environment
➜ Present solar home design to panel of judges
➜ Participate in Instant Challenges & Quizbowl
Worlds Competition Elements
Wind Turbine Testing
➜ Teams test their wind turbines in wind tunnels to be evaluated on the total energy produced over a 30 second trial period, measured in Joules.
➜ Teams test wind turbines in 3-4 wind tunnels, each set to a different wind speed
Solar Testing
➜ Teams test their solar home under the Solar Test Environment simulating how their project would perform in the sun.
➜ During testing teams demonstrate how the different aspects of the project perform.Judging Session
➜ Teams present their project to a panel of judges, discussing their building process and demonstrating what they learned.
➜ Judges ask students questions, pushing teams to defend their design choices.Instant Challenges
➜ Teams participate in an on-the-spot test of knowledge, skills, problem-solving, and teamwork without prior preparation.
➜ Each year KidWind creates new clean energy-related Instant Challenges.Quizbowl
➜ Teams test their combined knowledge of clean energy in a timed quiz.
➜ Students prepare by studying big questions related to clean energy topics.
Thanks to our Sponsors!
