Bright sparks from Shrewsbury earn national acclaim for hydro-electric project
Young innovators from a school near Shrewsbury have proved they are bright sparks after winning a national prize for their hydro-electric project.
Students from Mary Webb School and Science College in Pontesbury won the intermediate category of the Youth Industrial Strategy Competition.
The year 11 team, made up by Marcelo Ortuno Floria, Pip Roberts, Jack Jones, Ruby North, and Anna-Maria Tsvetkova, made a hydro-electric plumbing solution designed to reduce energy wastage, carbon dioxide emissions and society's reliance on mass electricity generation.
The students were awarded first place thanks to their creativity and innovative way of addressing the Industrial Strategy’s Grand Challenge of Clean Growth.
Marcelo said: “We are so happy to have won the competition. We all put so much effort into our project and are so thankful that the judges were as pleased with the project as we are.
“This competition has provided a great opportunity for us to apply the things we learn in school to the real world and we hope that our project, or others like it, can go on to make a real difference in people’s lives.”
The team had been due to showcase their project at the live finals, but the event had to be cancelled due to Covid-19. They demonstrated their work via video to the judges instead.
Tom Saunders, head of public engagement at the UK Research and Innovation, said: “As this hydro-electric generator shows, today’s students have an important part to play in addressing society’s biggest challenges. I would like to congratulate Marcelo, Pip, Jack, Ruby and Anna-Maria on their fantastic winning project and wish all the finalists every continued success in the future.”
Caitlin Brown, project manager for the Youth Industrial Strategy Competition, added: “They thoroughly deserve to be crowned our Youth Industrial Strategy Competition Intermediate winners."
