The Solar Prize Round 3 finalists are one step closer to competition completion! The 10 competing teams submitted their last pitch videos showcasing the progress they’ve made since earning their finalist titles in July 2020.
Here’s a recap of the technologies competing for $500,000 as a final winner:
- Team Enertronics Inc.: This team is developing a high-voltage, direct current (DC) power optimizer small enough to be built into a module junction box.
- Team infiniRel Corp.: This team developed a patented hardware/software system that monitors solar inverters while they’re operating to detect component deterioration as well as software control issues.
- Team Maxout Renewables: This team developed a cost-effective system that turns a residential solar installation into a microgrid that can keep power on during a grid outage.
- Team Pursuit Solar: This team’s passive solar tracker enables panels to capture more solar energy without motors, controls, or external power. A small concentrated mirror system heats paraffin wax, which rotates the panels to track the sun when they’re properly positioned.
- Team Renu Robotics Corp.: This team is developing an autonomous electric lawnmower for utility-scale solar power plants that can maintain hundreds of acres a month without human interaction.
- Team Shine: This team is developing a small, lightweight, low-cost PV system with battery storage that does not require technical expertise to install, making it suitable for transitional homes and emergency management response.
- Team TrackerSled: This team is developing a mobile solar array for farms that uses tractors mounted on pontoon skis to tow two digitally controlled single-axis solar trackers. The trackers follow the sun’s movement to capture sunlight on solar panels. The array’s mobility will help farmers rotate their cash crop and cover crop fields, improving soil health, income, and power generation.
- Team Uplift Solar Corp.: This team is developing a chip that is both a direct-current converter and a maximum power point tracker that can be embedded in a module. It will have a microprocessor that enables power line communication, ensuring module compliance with code updates.
- Team Verify Energy Inc.: This team is developing a self-powered device for utility-scale PV plants that monitors communications by combining the data logger, cellular modem, and data plan.
- Team Wattch Inc.: This team combines cost-effective hardware with secure, scalable software to deliver insights and increase operational efficiency for PV plants. This will result in predictive maintenance schedules that lower downtime, improve remote and automated diagnostics, and better model a plant’s lifetime energy yield.
See the finalist pitch videos ahead of the winner announcement on Friday, Dec. 4.
Finally, connect with these solar entrepreneurs at the Solar Prize Demo Day and Networking Event, hosted by Nation of Makers, on Dec. 4 from 1-3 p.m. ET. The Round 3 winners and Round 4 semifinalists will be announced at 2 p.m. ET. This event is free and open to all solar professionals, investors, and Round 3 fans.
