Two teams from Folsom Education Academy beat more than 130 middle schoolers from across the Sacramento region to claim first and second place at SMUD's KidWind Challenge Jr.

The competition took place Friday, Sept. 11, at the Aerospace Museum of California in McClellan, the Folsom Times reported. Students spent the day designing, building and testing small wind turbines. Teams received tools and materials to build original turbine designs, then put their creations to the test inside a wind tunnel.

The Folsom school's entries claimed the top two positions when the competition concluded.

A team identified as Aroche finished third. Presentation awards went to Sacramento Country Day School and Brilliant Beginnings.

The KidWind Challenge Jr. is a hands-on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competition presented by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) in partnership with KidWind. The national nonprofit has spent 20 years teaching students about clean energy through wind and solar design challenges.

Students applied principles of physics, engineering and energy production while experimenting with turbine blades, generators and other components. Their designs were scored on how much power they could produce.

SMUD Board President Dave Tamayo attended the daylong event, which ran from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. SMUD said in a Facebook post that the activity introduced students to renewable energy concepts and future clean energy careers.

The utility also connected the event to its 2030 Zero Carbon Plan. SMUD has set a goal of eliminating carbon emissions from its power supply by 2030, which the district describes as the most ambitious target of any large utility in the country.