Welcome to the U.S. Department of Energy Solar District Cup Collegiate Design Competition!
The Solar District Cup challenges multidisciplinary student teams to design and model distributed energy systems for a campus or district. These systems integrate solar and battery storage across mixed-use districts or groups of buildings served by a common electrical distribution feeder. The competition engages students in engineering, finance, urban planning, sustainability, and other disciplines or degree programs to reimagine how energy is generated, managed, and used in a district.
The Solar District Cup launched in 2019. Learn more about the past classes of competitors, including winners and district use cases:
Student teams assume the role of a solar-plus-storage developer to produce a conceptual design and financing proposal as well as analyze electric distribution grid interactions for a district use case. Teams compete in one of multiple divisions, each structured around a district use case. Winning teams are selected by industry judges for each division, based on the quality of their proposed solutions. The strongest submissions provide solutions that maximize the district’s energy offset and financial savings over the contracted or useful life of the system while integrating aesthetic, infrastructure, and community considerations.
Students submit written deliverable packages for evaluation and present their solutions to judges live at an online competition event, at which the winners are determined and announced.
APPROACH
The Solar District Cup is designed to inspire students to consider new career opportunities, learn industry-relevant skills, engage with the professional marketplace, and prepare to lead the next generation of workforce in distributed solar energy. As competitors, students:
Gain experience with innovative renewable energy design
Develop real-world solutions that shape the future of solar energy
Engage with industry professionals to forge relationships and connections that aid participating students’ transition to the solar energy workforce upon graduation
Compete to earn a trophy and national recognition.
The Solar District Cup encourages collaboration between academia and industry. The program seeks to establish public-private partnership and demonstrate corporate and nonprofit industry co-sponsorship.
NEW WAYS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CLASS OF 2022-2023
New to the Class of 2022-2023 are a few updates to the way in which students can participate. The competition will accept collegiate team registration on a rolling basis, which means students can begin work and access learning resources on a timeline that best aligns with their academic calendar. Student teams will receive their assigned district use case and access to modeling tools on a rolling basis starting September 8, 2022. Additionally, the Solar District Cup Class of 2022-2023 will allow for one-semester or two-quarter participation in the winter/spring.
Student teams will have two options for their district use cases:
Assignment to a district use case defined by competition organizers, as has been done in all previous iterations of the Solar District Cup, or
A bring-your-own-district division in which students can self-select their district use case, utilizing the district’s available data, with missing data synthesis support by competition organizers. All student teams choosing to bring their own district will compete in a division against other teams bringing their own districts.
PREVIOUS PROGRAMS
The Solar District Cup launched in 2019. Learn more about the past classes of competitors, including winners and district use cases:
The Solar District Cup is directed and administered by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and is funded by the DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office. Learn more.
Challenge Guidelines
GUIDELINES
The rules document provides a framework for student effort, student team submittal requirements, and judging evaluation. The Class of 2022-2023 Rules have been released and can be accessed under Resources in HeroX.
GOAL
The goal for each team is to design a solar-plus-storage system for a campus or district that maximizes energy offset and financial savings over the contracted or useful life of the system. Competition teams assess electric distribution grid interactions and assume the role of renewable energy systems developers to produce a power purchase agreement (PPA), lease, and/or cash purchase proposal for their division’s district.
The Solar District Cup has multiple divisions. Each division has a set of six teams competing against each other. Each team is tasked to design a solution for a use case of an existing mixed-use district or campus interested in increased distributed energy development. For most divisions, the competition organizers provide each team with the details of their division’s district use case. New for the class of 2022-2023, there is a division in which student teams identify their own defined district use case of electricity load and site data. A district use case is a defined area served by one or more electrical distribution feeders with a collection of spaces potentially available for PV installation, including but not limited to: building rooftops, facades, open land, parking, agricultural dual use, bodies of water, and other facilities.
WHAT TEAMS DO AND WIN
Teams submit two deliverables: a Progress Deliverable Package and a Final Deliverable Package.
A team competes against other teams in their division at a final competition event. Competition organizers assign teams to divisions upon registration. Each team designs its own solution for the assigned division’s district use case. The strongest team concepts are those that maximize the district’s energy offset and financial savings over the system’s contracted or useful lifetime while integrating aesthetic, infrastructure, and community considerations. A team wins based on its average score as determined by a panel of three to five judges who evaluate the competition entries through review of deliverable packages and presentations. The first-place winners of each division compete against each other to determine a Project Pitch winner.
As competitors, students:
Gain experience with innovative renewable energy design
Develop real-world solutions that shape the future of solar energy
Engage with industry professionals to forge relationships and connections that aid participating students’ transition to the solar energy workforce upon graduation
Compete to earn a trophy and national recognition.
HOW JUDGING WORKS
A qualified panel of three to five judges—comprising subject-matter experts and representatives from the partner district use cases selected by the competition organizers—score finalist submissions according to the extent to which they agree that the content and formatting requirements were met and with the solution aligns with the judging statements listed below:
PROJECT PROPOSAL - The proposal presents a clear and concise summary of the project. Both the proposal and the presentation make a compelling case as to why the proposed solution is the best choice for the district given its needs, constraints, and goals.
CONCEPTUAL SYSTEM DESIGN - Conceptual system design proposes a creative and innovative solution that demonstrates excellent analysis, system design, optimal battery use strategy, and and understanding of the PV hosting capacity with distribution constraints.
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS - Financial analyses communicates a strong grasp of renewable energy project finance. Input assumptions are justifiable, calculations are correct, battery-operation strategy delivers maximum economic benefits, and pricing and rate of return are attractive to the market. The outputs of both the battery analysis and the customer savings analysis are included as tabs to the Excel-based financial model.
DEVELOPMENT PLAN - Proposed building, site, construction, and development plans with any rezoning adds significant value in a comprehensive, actionable, and feasible approach for the district and surrounding community members with distributional equity.
COMPETITION DELIVERABLES
Teams participating for a full academic year are expected to submit two deliverables: a Progress Deliverable Package and a Final Deliverable Package. Teams that submit the progress deliverable receive feedback from the organizer staff. Student teams participating for the spring semester (or winter/spring quarters) compete within their own division and submit only the Final Deliverable Package. These packages are summarized in Table 1 and Table 2 of the Rules and are described in greater detail in the appendices. Competition deliverables are submitted via the online HeroX competition platform.
Progress Deliverable Package—Solar PV System
A complete submission for the progress deliverable is the design and analysis of interconnected solar PV systems that maximize energy offset and savings over the system’s contracted or useful lifetime for the district use case.
Final Deliverable Package—Solar PV Plus Battery Electric Storage System
The Final Deliverable Package includes a complete conceptual design, modeling, and analysis of a proposed interconnected solar PV plus battery electric storage system that maximizes energy offset and savings during the system’s contracted or useful lifetime for the division district, given its use case parameters and conditions.
ELIGIBILITY
The Solar District Cup invites participation of teams comprising of at least three students enrolled in accredited U.S.-based collegiate institutions. Students must be enrolled in at least one class and be pursuing a degree for the duration of the competition. Students who graduate in the middle of the competition timeline may continue on the team as a mentor and contributor; they may contribute to the modeling, analysis, and deliverable components; however, they may not present to the judges in the final competition event. Students and faculty advisors are not required to be U.S. citizens at the time of the competition. Members of the judging panels, competition organizer staff, and U.S. Department of Energy and national laboratory employees are ineligible to compete.
Although any level of collegiate student is eligible to compete, the challenge scope is intended for multidisciplinary teams of upper-level undergraduate students. Student participation may be integrated into senior design or capstone project, count as elective or independent study course credit, be added to the curriculum of existing classes, treated as a seminar topic, engaged as part of a student interest club, or be an extracurricular student activity.
Each team is encouraged to have at least one faculty advisor, but this is not required for participation. Teams are also encouraged to connect with mentors inside or outside their school. If a team of students needs assistance in identifying a faculty advisor or mentor, they can contact the competition organizers for help.
By uploading a deliverable package, a team certifies that it is in compliance with the eligibility requirements. If the organizers become aware that a team or individual is not eligible, that team may be disqualified from competition.
Are you looking for another opportunity to be creative in the solar energy space? Or do you know a student who is?
Check out this scholarship:
The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) is hosting a research-based artistic challenge for undergraduate students!
Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technology Office (SETO) is accelerating the advancement of solar technology, but in general, the public is unaware of these technologies.
Your challenge is to develop a piece of art in the Solarpunk style to communicate the research of SETO to the general public.
You could win a $5,000 scholarship with your artwork!
The Solar District Cup organizers would like to recognize and thank our Class of 2022–2023 partners for their support and collaboration. Students competing in the Solar District Cup continue to benefit from the resources provided by these partners. Because of their generous contributions, students are able to further learn about solar energy and make industry connections. Our partners include:
This software company has created a cloud-based platform that uses data, automation, and artificial intelligence to streamline workflows and grow solar businesses faster. The company provides complimentary accounts with access to their solar software to all competing teams for the duration of the competition, as well as customized training and hosting “office hours” sessions.
Energy Toolbase provides a cohesive suite of project modeling, storage control, and asset monitoring products that enable solar and storage developers to deploy projects more efficiently. The Energy Toolbase Developer product, which Solar District Cup participants will utilize in the competition, specializes in utility rate and financial analysis of solar + storage projects. Energy Toolbase is providing all competing teams free accounts and access to its software, offering customized training, and staffing “office hours” sessions throughout the competition.
RE+ Events, powered by Solar Energy Industries Association and the Smart Electric Power Alliance, brings clean energy leaders together in marketplaces across the United States and internationally to expand business prospects and share best practices. RE+ Events offers attendees and students year-round access to resources for growing their businesses as the industry changes, as well as opportunities to have an impact on the future of clean energy through exhibition at events and speaking opportunities at educational seminars.
In addition to these programmatic partners, we also have several district use case partners, which change every year. The Solar District Cup class of 2022–2023 has multiple divisions. Each team’s effort centers on a distinct use case of a real-world, mixed-use district or campus interested in pursuing clean energy solutions.
The Solar District Cup would not be able to provide real-world district and campus use cases without the collaboration of our Solar District Cup class of 2022–2023 use case partners and their willingness to share valuable data with the student teams:
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
Lake Nona Town Center
Lummi Tribal Nation
North Carolina State University Centennial Campus
The partners of the student teams in the “bring your own district” division.
45 teams from 39 collegiate institutions are moving on as finalists in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar District Cup Collegiate Design Competition.
The collegiate institutions with teams competing as Class of 2022–2023 finalists are:
Alfred State College of Technology
Alfred University
Appalachian State University
Arizona State University
Boise State University
Carnegie Mellon University
Clark Atlanta University
Drexel University
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Hofstra University
Illinois State University
Indian Hills Community College
Iowa State University of Science and Technology
Kankakee Community College
Kansas State University
Macalester College
Manhattan College
Miami University
Monterey Peninsula College
North Carolina State University
Northeastern University
Penn State Hazleton
San Antonio College
Texas A&M University
Texas Tech University
The George Washington University
The State University of New York Morrisville
The University of Arizona
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
University of California, Riverside
University of Colorado Boulder
University of Houston
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota Duluth
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus
West Texas A&M University
Congratulations to the finalist teams from these schools! These teams are either advancing from the fall or starting now in the winter/spring division.
Between now and the final competition event that runs April 30–May 1, teams will complete their final deliverables for the competition, which they will package together and submit in mid-April. Then, in a virtual event later that month, teams will present their concepts to panels of industry judges. First-place teams will be selected from each division to present their projects again, on Monday, May 1, this time to a public audience who will vote to determine the Project Pitch winner.
The competitors are gaining the training and experience in this competition to prepare for a career in the solar energy industry!
If you are curious about participating in the Solar District Cup, tomorrow, Jan. 26 at 5 p.m. ET, is your last chance to participate in the Class of 2022-2023! In this new Winter/Spring division, students get a chance to design and model distributed energy systems that integrate solar photovoltaics and battery storage for the Lummi Tribal Nation.
You do not have to complete any work to register a team!
To register, follow these steps:
Those who are new to HeroX: click the “Solve this Challenge” button at the top of this page. You will receive a confirmation email about HeroX email registration, but your team is not yet enrolled in the competition.
Fill out the “Create Submission” form with the best info you have right now—your answers can be general at this time.
Click “Submit Entry” to complete your registration.
Here’s how you know you’re registered: You will receive a welcome email from the Solar District Cup team signaling that you are officially registered to compete in the Class of 2022-2023!
If you have any questions, contact solardistrictcup@nrel.gov. We are excited to see who will compete in this new division!
If you know any students looking for a chance to set themselves apart when applying for jobs in the solar energy sector, consider encouraging them to join the Solar District Cup Class of 2022–2023! Now is a great time for students get involved and jump in on a live informational webinar tomorrow, Jan. 13, at 1 p.m. ET.
Here’s what students need to know to get started:
We have a new division this year that starts in January and runs through May 1, 2023. In this competition, student teams gain experience that can help them secure jobs after graduation by designing and proposing solar-plus-storage solutions to an actual district, including developing conceptual designs with financing models and pitching to industry judges.
In this new division, students design and model distributed energy systems that integrate solar photovoltaics and battery storage for the Lummi Tribal Nation. If you are interested in making a mark in the energy equity space for solar adoption, this could be a great first step!
Register for the live webinar on Jan. 13 at 1 p.m. ET, where organizers will go over details of the competition and answer questions.
Please help spread the word about this opportunity with your networks so students can know the benefit of engaging this competition. If you have any questions, contact .
