This was the Celebration and Assessment event for the Engineering Education Scheme, one of the Engineering Development Trust initiatives to promote STEM careers. The students, Isabelle G, Eva H and Steen L, also had to display their project in a public exhibition and they discussed their work with many visiting engineers and industrialists. 

The project involved developing a ‘low tech’ solution to obtaining electrical energy from slow moving water. The final design was based on centuries old mill technology using the ‘undershot’ method of converting the mechanical power into useful electrical energy.

The students were able to test their project in Vicar’s Brook near Trumpington Road, Cambridge. They were able to extract enough power to charge a small mobile device. Projects concerned with sustainability are always very popular with the students and rightly so. The students hope that there will be many applications for this type of community-based renewable energy generator. We look forward to seeing the project displayed at our Festival of Ideas at the Senior School in July.