The Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) under the US Department of Energy (DOE) has opened the $4 million American-Made Solar Prize Round 7 to award the money to innovations in the US solar hardware and software technologies.
To be considered for this round, the DOE wants hardware innovations to be manufactured within the US while software innovations should help address the non-hardware costs of solar like customer acquisition, financing and grid integration.
Ideas with a 'potentially marketable solar technology solution' are eligible to participate in this round, including entrepreneurial students, professors, small-businesses owners, company staffers, researchers or national laboratories or anyone else based out of the US.
DOE will provide access to the American-Made Network to competitors to find partners and testing facilities and make quick progress to bring their solutions to the market. Selected competitors will be required to develop early-stage hardware prototypes for industry testing or customer-validated software products.
Eligible projects need to move up various stages of competition including Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) contest to explain how their solution addresses solar market barriers faced by underserved communities.
For this round, the DOE says it has added a Power-Up Contest to support and advance teams with compelling applications but not selected as Ready! Contest winners.
"To achieve our climate goals, we need to see solar energy expand across America. I look forward to seeing the Round 7 teams' proposed solutions to address the solar industry's biggest challenges," said Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Alejandro Moreno.
Details of the round are available on DOE's HeroX prize platform website. Last date to apply for the Ready! Contest is September 27, 2023.
The DOE has been holding American-Made Solar Prize challenge since 2018 and has awarded a total of $19.6 million in cash prizes and other support to date.