ExperiWatt 2023 | The STEM school competition on renewable energies

How much energy can actually be generated from wind, sun, a small fuel cell or human muscle power? And could we even power the car of the future with a fuel cell? These questions and many others on the subject of renewable energies were once again explored by pupils in year 9 in the annual ExperiWatt competition.

From 6 to 17 March 2023 , they competed against each other in teams of four, experimenting, calculating tasks, pedalling energetically or letting electricity flow. On 29 March 2023, all participants were then able to celebrate at the award ceremony with Jack Pop at the interactive knowledge quiz against the head of the State Office for Schools and Education (LaSuB) Jörg Heynoldt, stand on stage as a living, current-conducting musical instrument for Jack Pop and, of course, collect prizes if their team had won.

The competition

Every year, pupils in year 9 at a secondary school or grammar school in Leipzig and the surrounding area can register for ExperiWatt. In teams of four, the participants have to complete a total of four different modules on the topic of "energy".

The modules

To get to the modules, the teams navigate independently through Leipzig to the four ExperiWatt locations. And so that the competition doesn't get too long and take too much time, the teams of four can split up again to collect points. Only two modules are completed by two members of a team during the competition period. The points are then totalled in the team at the end.

Each module location awaited the competition participants in March 2023 with exciting experiments. At HTWK Leipzig, the FitForFuture module examined forms of electrical energy generation, while the INSPIRATA's Wind module focused on wind energy, the UFZ Student Lab's Fuel Cell module focussed on CO2-neutral mobility of the future and the VDI GaraGe's Solar module tested solar cells and measured solar energy.

FitForFuture module | Faculty of Engineering HTWK Leipzig

A total of six different experiments on energy generation awaited the teams in the laboratory of the Faculty of Engineering at HTWK Leipzig. The teams learnt about different forms of energy in practice at the stations and had to find answers to questions such as:
How can pumped-storage power plants be rethought as energy storage systems?
Why do LEDs consume less energy than light bulbs?
Why don't you fill the kettle up to the "max" mark?
How much sweat is in a cup of tea? Or: How fit are you?

In the first experiment, the pupils were allowed to generate energy while cycling on the bicycle ergometer, analyse the data and then carry out calculations, for example on heat energy. The "hub dynamo" experiment involved determining the differences in performance between LEDs and light bulbs.

Wind module | INSPIRATA Leipzig

How can the energy of the wind be utilised efficiently? And what happens when there is a lull? Questions like these had to be answered at the INSPIRATA Leipzig module. The knowledge challenge on the topic of wind energy was only part of the challenges that the teams had to face. The participants also learnt about different types of rotors and their different shapes, had to deal with technical jargon and statistics relevant to the topic and were able to experience the topic of wind energy for themselves through their own experiments.

Solar module | VDI GarGe Leipzig

The sun is probably the most important source of energy, as it is the basis of all life on earth. But how can this energy be utilised technically and what happens when it is not shining?

At the VDI GaraGe, the pupils learnt about the structure and function of silicon solar cells. They then investigated how shading affects the performance of solar cells, what happens when solar cells are interconnected in different ways and the efficiency of different energy conversion steps. They also simulated an island system with a solar installation and investigated capacitors as a storage option for electricity from solar cells.

Fuel cell module | UFZ student laboratory

At the beginning of the module, the teams were given an introduction to how fuel cells work, how they are used and an insight into their internal structure in the UFZ student laboratory. They learnt what the phenomenon of the "lemon battery" is all about and what water splitting with a galvanic cell actually is.

The following questions were answered theoretically and worked out practically in the module: Will fuel cell technology be the solution to this question? What "burns" in a fuel cell? Which fuels can I use to operate these energy converters? What does a fuel cell look like on the inside?

In the module, the teams also measured the performance of various fuel cells and completely dismantled and reassembled a fuel cell.

And what did they learn?

The winning teams were not officially announced until 29 March 2023. Hosted by CIRCUS of SCIENCE entertainer Jack Pop, the award ceremony was both exciting and scientific.

Frida Schlothauer from Werner-Heisenberg-Schule (Gymnasium Stadt Leipzig) had a lot of fun at the competition: "ExperiWatt was a great project, allowing me to delve deeper into the subject area and engage more intensively with the topic of renewable energies. I will certainly include it in my future professional career. Thank you very much for the great effort and for letting me be part of it."

The winning teams

SECONDARY SCHOOLS

1st place | 56th secondary school | "Affenriegel" team

2nd place | Artur-Becker-Oberschule | Team "Artur-gamma"

3rd place | Artur-Becker-Oberschule | Team "Artur-delta"

GYMNASIES

1st place | BIP-Gymnasium | Team "BIP Science"

2nd place | Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium Taucha | Team "Gluonen-T4"

3rd place | Max-Klinger-Schule | Team "Die Viersteine"

Backstory | ExperiWatt

Since 2020, the Faculty of Engineering at HTWK Leipzig, INSPIRATA - Zentrum für mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Bildung e.V., UFZ - Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung GmbH and VDI GaraGe gemeinnützige GmbH have been offering the MINT competition ExperiWatt . It is aimed at pupils in year 9 from secondary schools and grammar schools in Leipzig and the surrounding area. ExperiWatt focusses on the urge to research and the exploration of STEM topics relating to renewable energy and the energy of the future. ExperiWatt is carried out by the four cooperation partners in terms of content and organisation. The STEM competition is financially supported by the City of Leipzig and the L-Group.

Originally, the STEM competition entitled experiNat was financed and organised by Leipziger Stadtwerke (today's L-Group) from 2006 to 2019. After the 13th edition in 2019, the L-Group said goodbye to the format in order to "focus on other measures" in future. The four module partners of the former experiNat competition decided to continue the now established and popular STEM competition with slightly different framework conditions under the new title ExperiWatt.