Federal Member for Cunningham, Sharon Bird MP, and State Member for Wollongong, Paul Scully MP, congratulated the Desert Rose House Solar Decathlon team made up of students from the University of Wollongong and TAFE Illawarra on achieving second place in the 2018 Solar Decathlon Middle East.
The Desert Rose House demonstrates what can be achieved through the collaboration of the tertiary education sector and industry sponsors and supporters.
The latest success of a Wollongong-based team in the global Solar Decathlon competition comes on the back of the success of the Illawarra Flame house in the 2013 competition in China.
Ms Bird and Mr Scully said that it is time that a serious bid was put together to bring the Solar Decathlon competition to Wollongong.
The Solar Decathlon competition has never been held in Australia and Ms Bird and Mr Scully believe that the strength of teams from Wollongong should be recognised with a future competition being held here.
Ms Bird and Mr Scully believe that Wollongong would be perfectly placed to put together a bid to host the competition and that they would be speaking with the Solar Decathlon team upon their return, along with the University and TAFE, about putting a bid together.
Comments attributable to Paul Scully MP:
“Congratulations to all of the students and staff from the University of Wollongong and TAFE Illawarra on their success in the Solar Decathlon Dubai.
“Once again a team from Wollongong is showing that, when it comes to designing and building sustainable houses, we are leading the globe.
“Clayton and the entire team should be incredibly proud of their achievement because Wollongong certainly is.
“Given our success in the Solar Decathlon it is time to bring the competition to Wollongong.”
Comments attributable to Sharon Bird MP:
“This is a fantastic result for the students and staff from TAFE Illawarra and the University of Wollongong. I am so proud of the competitors who have added to the excellent results achieved by the Illawarra Flame house in 2013.
“Their results have brought great credit to our local education institutions and to the City of Wollongong and it would be great to see this lead to a campaign to bring this international competition to Wollongong.
