Curro school leads the green revolution at Siemens Hackathon
Learners from Woodhill College in Pretoria, a school managed by Curro Holdings, have won themselves bursaries with Siemens Energy after taking home the top spot at the Siemens Energy’s Just Energy Transition (JET) Hackathon held in Midrand last month.
The four high school learners competed against 24 others, from six schools in Gauteng, including Curro Academy Parkdene, another school in the independent school group, to showcase their learning, innovation, and willingness to lead South Africa’s transition to a net-zero future.
As part of the challenge, each school had to present an innovative solution that used a combination of renewable, hydrogen and gas energy to power up as many servers as possible in a virtual data centre, whilst keeping both costs and carbon dioxide emissions low.
The Curro Woodhill College learners impressed the Siemens judges with their highly efficient innovation, which included a phased approach away from coal and a combination of job creation and skills development, which was cleverly built into their renewable energy plan. Although they used several technologies such as solar power, wind, and biomass in their proposed plan, it was their pioneering idea of using biogas waste to produce silicone that helped them clinch the top prize.
“We are exceptionally proud of our learners, who have showcased that they are passionate about our planet and are ready to lead the way in finding sustainable, affordable, and reliable solutions for its future. It is so wonderful to see our learners thinking not only about the environment but to see that they are also focused on the stability of the local and global economy. It is a fantastic opportunity to be mentored by a market leader like Siemens from such a young age and I am excited to see how they use this exposure to further enhance their talents,” says Kenneth Checkley, the Executive Headat Curro Woodhill College.
Learners from other competing schools included Leap Science and Maths Schools in Diepsloot and Alexandra, St Barnabas School of Specialisation in Randburg, Parktown High School for Girls in Parkview, John Orr Technical High School in Milpark and Midstream College in Midrand.