The Solar Desalination Prize is a competition designed to accelerate the development of systems that use low-cost solar-thermal energy to produce clean water from very-high-salinity water, like water produced from oil and gas extraction. The clean water produced can be used in municipal, agricultural, and industrial applications.
The Opportunity
According to Environment Protection Agency, the oil and gas industry produces several hundred billion gallons of wastewater annually. This water can have a salt content that is too high for commercially available desalination technologies. Solar thermal desalination can the solution to treating this water, even in remote locations.
The technologies used in solar desalination can also be used in industrial applications like food processing, chemical production, and mineral processing. Solar desalination systems and many industrial applications like food processing do not require high temperatures, so they utilize lower-cost components than other electricity-producing applications.
The Prize Structure
The prize is structured in four phases. Each successive phase is more challenging than the last, with larger prizes and fewer competitors advancing. The challenge requires competitors to make progress on a condensed timeline, form private-sector partnerships, and secure investments to make their ideas a reality.
By the end of the competition, the teams will have designed their solar-thermal desalination system, obtained the necessary permitting and approval documents, built it, and then demonstrated the operation of their system. The Department of Energy will determine the winner and award a final prize of $1 million in cash.
Guidelines
Who can participate?
Entrepreneurs, technologists, hardware developers, engineers, solar experts, and investors are all encouraged to join the challenge, be part of the American-Made Network and create ground-breaking solutions that will accelerate solar desalination technologies.
Please review the official rules for the application process and instructions for competing.
Innovation Contest opens The Round 2 Innovation Contest is open to new competitors
July 15, 2021, noon PDT
Submission Deadline
Innovation Contest submission deadline
July 20, 2021, 7 a.m. PDT
Judging
Aug. 10, 2021, 11 a.m. PDT
Judging Closed
Sept. 16, 2021, 11 a.m. PDT
Quarterfinalist Teams announced
Sept. 16, 2021, noon PDT
Enter
Feb. 9, 2022, noon PST
Submission Deadline
Feb. 10, 2022, 11 p.m. PST
Judging
Feb. 27, 2022, 11 p.m. PST
Judging Closed
April 12, 2022, 11 a.m. PDT
Semifinalist Teams announced
April 12, 2022, noon PDT
Design Contest open
o Design Contest Opens o Submissions accepted as soon as competitors are ready o Finalists are expected to be announced one month after DOE receives submissions o Close: April 10, 2025
We’re excited to announce the Solar Desalination Prize has a new finalist! Katz Water Technologies was the first team to win $750,000 and move on to the final phase of the prize, where they’ll build, validate, and get ready to demonstrate their innovative solar-thermal-powered distillation system to purify salt water. Read all about this unique challenge and their clever technology: https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/american-made-challenges-solar-desalination-prize-round-1.
Check back for updates to see who our next finalist will be!
Congratulations to the Solar Desalination Prize Round 2 semifinalist teams, announced today by the U.S. Department of Energy at the American-Made Earth Celebration.
Sunvapor, from Pasadena, California
Planet A Energy, from Pasadena, California
SolMem, from Houston, Texas
Artic Solar, from Jacksonville, Florida
Team Trident, from Santa Barbara, California
Winston Cone Optics, from Merced, California
The six semifinalists will receive $250,000 and a $100,000 technical assistance voucher to help design their systems in the Design and Test phases of the competition.
We have received a couple of questions surrounded collaborations between competitors within the Teaming Phase of the Prize. As stated in the rules document, the goal for the Teaming Contest is to identify a cross-functional team that can develop and successfully validate an operational prototype of a solar-thermal desalination system. However you build that team is entirely your decision – whether you collaborate with other prize participants, utilize the American-Made Network, or find external experts. The strongest submissions will demonstrate a team that has the necessary experience, expertise, and access to resources required to develop the proposed concept into a prototype. Each entry will be evaluated based on the criteria outlined in the rules.
The recording of the Teaming Event for the Solar Desalination Prize, held Thursday, October 28th, is now available for viewing. If you were not able to make the event, we encourage you to watch each of the 12 Teaming Contest competitors give their 4-minute pitch presentations describing their innovations below. A keynote address by NEOM's Gavin von Tonder is also featured.
We hope you are all making good progress on your Teaming submissions! Below, you will find the link to a recording of the Kickoff webinar on October 18th if you would like to review any of the material covered. We are looking forward to seeing all of your submissions by February 9th.
