(Photo: KSHS)
July 31, 2024
Kingaroy State High School students will be heading to California in September to shine on the world stage at the Horizon Hydrogen Grand Prix (H2GP) World Final.
This follows the team’s win in June at the Gold Coast final of the H2GP competition.
Lexy Nixon, Chloe Elliott, Jack Newby, Cooper Mollenhauer and Oliver Vogelaar secured an impressive victory, despite their hydrogen-powered vehicle suffering numerous collisions and getting glued back together on several occasions!
The World Final, held in conjunction with the annual RE+ Energy Conference, will be held from September 9-12 in Anaheim.
The KSHS team designed, built and perfected their vehicle over several months.
They were guided by teachers Sophia Steinhardt and David Fredericks who worked with the students to create the high-performance mini racer.
The aim of the competition is to complete the most laps in four hours.
The KSHS team finished with 542 laps, 33 ahead of the second-placed team from the Northern Territory.
This is the first year that KSHS has entered the competition, which makes their win even more impressive.
Financial support from Stanwell, RES, Ken Mills Toyota and the South Burnett Regional Council will help the team get to California.
An RES spokesperson said the company – which is developing the Tarong West Wind Farm at Ironpot in partnership with Stanwell – was proud to sponsor the team.
“It’s exciting to support bright young minds in endeavours such as this to showcase their skills in teamwork, engineering and environmental stewardship,” senior development project manager for the Tarong West Wind Farm, William McGrane, said.
“Results such as these are a credit to both the students and the teachers that guide them.
“We look forward to following their journey to the United States and throughout the competition.
“RES is honoured to be part of projects such as these that provide impact and opportunity for young people to expand their horizons.”
The RE+ North America Conference will bring together more than 40,000 clean energy professionals from 125 countries for an event billed as “North America’s largest and most comprehensive clean energy industry” conference.
