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American-Made Challenges

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Solar Prize Round 1

The American-Made Solar Prize is a $3 million prize competition designed to accelerate and sustain American solar innovation.

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stage:
Won
prize:
$1,000,000 distributed equally with a range of $25,000 to $50,000 in cash per winner (see Rules)

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Summary

Overview

Congratulations Ready!  Contest Semifinalists!

Semifinalists have been determined for the Ready! Contest.  Innovators from around the country competed in the first stage of the competition, the Ready! Contest, by identifying an impactful idea or solution that addresses a critical need in the solar industry and then developing the path they will take to make their solution a reality.  A panel of expert reviewers selected 20 teams from 15 states to each receive $50,000 from a pool of $1 million.

View the semifinalist teams on our Community tab.

 

 

Solar Prize Contests

Innovation happens when the right resources, people, and passion come together. With the Solar Prize, teams of creative individuals and entrepreneurs will advance conceptual solutions toward product realities with the support of a unique and powerful network and a chance to win up to $3 million in cash prizes.

 

 

A prize competition structured for success

The Solar Prize is an opportunity for anyone interested in accelerating ideas and solutions. The American-Made Network is designed to strengthen and scale the very best ideas and teams through three progressive prize competitions, the Ready! Set! Go! Contests. This network provides the tools and expertise to help projects succeed and is comprised of an unparalleled innovation system. These resources will provide technical insight, product validation, and strategic support to teams throughout the competition.

 

Competing in the prize is easy!

  1. Identify an important problem you want to solve (discover ideas through ideation on HeroX)
  2. Submit a 90-second video describing your challenge and proposed solution, team, and plan
  3. Answer a short, four-question narrative and make a slide about this problem or challenge
  4. Submit a two-page technical assistance request
  5. Update your videos and statements as you advance through the contests.

 

More than $3 million in incentives for innovation

The Ready! Set! Go! Contests will fast-track efforts to identify, develop, and test disruptive solutions to solar industry needs for a total of $3 million in cash prizes and up to $525,000 in vouchers which can be used at national laboratories and other voucher facilities to develop, test, and validate. Each stage will have a 90-day performance period when participants work to advance their solutions.

 

Contest

Winners

Prizes

Ready!

20 to 40

$1,000,000 distributed equally with a range of $25,000 to $50,000 in cash per winner

Set!

5 to 10

$1,000,000 in cash and $375,000 in vouchers distributed within a range of $100,000 to $200,000 in cash and $37,500 to $75,000 in vouchers per winner

Go!

2

$500,000 in cash and up to $75,000 in vouchers per winner

 

The Ready! Set! and Go! Contests

 

Ideate

It all starts with a big idea. You can enter the Ready! Contest with an idea from the ideation platform or an idea that’s all your own. Once a completed package has been submitted on HeroX, your video will be made public and you’ll become part of the Ready! Contest.

 

  • Ready! Contest
    90 days / 20-40 winners / up to $50,000 cash 
    Winners will be selected after identifying an impactful idea or solution addressing a critical need in the solar industry;

 

  • Set! Contest
    90 days / 5-10 winners / up to $200,000 prize and up to $75,000 in vouchers 
    Competitors will work to substantially advance their technology solution toward a viable and promising proof of concept.

 

  • Go! Contest
    90 days / 2 winners / $500,000 prize and up to $75,000 in vouchers 
    ​Competitors will work to substantially advance their solution from proof of concept to a refined prototype and find a partner to perform a pilot test of the prototype.

 

  • Demo Days
    Competitors in the Set! and Go! Contests pitch and demonstrate proof of concepts and prototypes to a judging panel and audience at two, live, in-person Demo Day events. Demo days are opportunities to meet competitors, connectors, power connectors, and other members of the American-Made Network. Demo Days culminate in the announcement of Set! and Go! prize winners.

 

Anyone can compete

Competitors are entrepreneurial individuals or teams, legally residing or based in the U.S., can compete including members of one or multiple organizations, students, university faculty members, small business owners, researchers, or anyone with the desire and drive to transform ideas into impactful realities.

 

Ready!, Set!, Go! Guidelines

The Ready!, Set!, and Go! Contests will fast-track efforts to identify, develop, and test disruptive solutions to meet solar industry needs. Each stage will include a contest period when participants will work to rapidly advance their solutions. DOE invites anyone, individually or as a team, to compete to transform a conceptual solution into product reality.

Please visit https://americanmadechallenges.org/rules to view the full rules for American-Made Challenges Ideation and the American-Made Challenges Solar Prize.

 

 

The American-Made Solar Prize is a $3 million prize competition designed to revitalize U.S. solar manufacturing through a series of contests and the development of a diverse and powerful support network that leverages national laboratories, energy incubators, and other resources across the country. The American-Made Solar Prize is directed and administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office. Learn more.


Guidelines

See the official Rules for more details.

Resources
FAQ
Timeline
Entries
Updates31

Challenge Updates

Congratulations to the two Round 1 Winners!

Oct. 1, 2019, 9:18 a.m. PDT by NREL Prize Administrator

On Sept. 24, 13 teams from Round 1 of the Solar Prize made their final pitches to a panel of expert reviewers and an audience of solar industry experts at Solar Power International in Salt Lake City, Utah. At the end of the day, two teams emerged as the final winners, each winning $500,000 in cash prizes and $75,000 in vouchers. Congratulations to teams Phase3 Photovoltaics and Solar Inventions! 

The entire Solar Prize team enjoyed getting to know each of you throughout the Ready!, Set!, and Go! Contests. Each team made extraordinary progress developing your innovations and business models. We encourage you to continue leveraging the American-Made Network to pursue your innovations and welcome new ideas in Round 3.

A sincere and celebratory thank you for competing in the inaugural American-Made Solar Prize!

To your continued success, 

The Solar Prize Team 


Congratulations to Set! Demo Day Finalists

June 21, 2019, 3:16 p.m. PDT by NREL Prize Administrator

Set! Demo Day in Boston was a huge success! Teams pitched, networked with peers, and learned about what’s in store for the solar industry. At the end of the day, ten talented teams walked away with $100,000 in cash prizes and vouchers to use in the final stage of Round 1 competition. Find out who the 10 finalist teams are and track all 20 teams in the final Go! Contest. We hope to see you all at Solar Power International in September!


Success Story—Omnisole

June 5, 2019, 3:03 p.m. PDT by NREL Prize Administrator

Team Omnisole from Worcester, MA, is working closely with a variety of American-Made Network members including national laboratories like the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, business incubators like Elemental Excelerator and Greentown Labs, and manufacturing gurus like Red Blue Collective. The team has been developing and testing prototypes of their no-penetration solar panel racking system for steeply graded rooftops of up to 50 degrees.

Learn more about the team and their no-penetration solar panel racking system, and register to attend Set! Demo Day in Boston on June 6 to see Team Omnisole compete. Good luck!


Success Story—IEC

May 31, 2019, 9 a.m. PDT by NREL Prize Administrator

Team IEC from Lowell, MA, is receiving mentorship from Greentown Labs as they create a road map for their Quick Lift Solar PV system to be made available to the residential market. The team is also working closely with American-Made Network members North Shore Innoventures and Tucker Engineering. Both Connectors have helped IEC build and test their proof-of-concept for their next-generation racking hardware, which the team hopes will bolster domestic manufacturing.

Learn more about the team and their quick lift PV system, and register to attend Set! Demo Day in Boston on June 6 to see Team IEC compete. Good luck!


Success Story—Solar Inventions

May 30, 2019, 9 a.m. PDT by NREL Prize Administrator

Solar Prize semifinalist team Solar Inventions is making progress in the Set! Contest. The Atlanta, GA-based team is working with American-Made Network members like the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to advance their configurable current cell (C3) technology that improves performance on nearly all types of silicon PV cells with a negligible cost increase. Team Solar Inventions connected with PV researchers at NREL to understand the engineering, performance, and reliability capabilities of the lab, and how NREL can be an asset to the team.

Learn more about the team and their C3 technology, and register to attend Set! Demo Day in Boston on June 6 to see Team Solar Inventions compete. Good luck!


Forum87
Teams1K