Welcome to the Solar District Cup Class of 2024-2025!
WHAT IT IS: The Solar District Cup is a collegiate competition that challenges multidisciplinary student teams to design and model distributed energy systems for a mixed-use campus or district—groups of buildings served by a common electrical distribution feeder.
The competition engages students across disciplines—engineering, finance, urban planning, sustainability, communications, and more—to reimagine how energy is generated, managed, and used in a district.
HOW IT WORKS: Student teams assume the role of a solar developer to produce conceptual designs, financing, and project development planning in a solar-plus-storage proposal for a district use case.
Over the course of the competition, students receive training from solar-industry experts from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and partner companies. Students also receive free access to leading industry tools to enable successful solar system design and financial modeling.
Teams compete in one of multiple divisions. Students submit deliverable packages for evaluation and present their solutions to judges live at an online competition event.
Winning teams from each division are selected by industry judges based on the quality of students’ proposed solutions. Judges are looking for winning proposals that maximize the district’s energy offset and financial savings over the contracted or useful life of the system while also integrating aesthetic, infrastructure, and community considerations.
WHY JOIN THIS COMPETITION?
The Solar District Cup seeks 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
Practice with industry-leading tools used every day in solar development
Engage with industry professionals to forge connections and transition to the solar energy workforce
Develop real-world solutions that shape the future of solar energy.
PREVIOUS PROGRAMS
The Solar District Cup originated 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.
GUIDELINES
The Rules document provides a framework for student effort, team submittal requirements, and judging evaluation. . Organizers published the official Rules for the Class of 2024-2025 on August 19, 2024.
GOAL
The goal for each team is to design a solar energy system for a campus or district that maximizes energy offset and financial savings during the contracted (if power purchase agreement [PPA] or lease) or useful (if cash purchase) life of the system.
Competition teams analyze electric distribution grid interactions and assume the role of renewable energy system developers to produce a 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 teams that compete 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 teams with the details of their division’s district use case. Continuing in the Class of 2024–2025, 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 geographic 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, façades, open land, parking, agricultural dual use, bodies of water, and other facilities or spaces.
HOW JUDGING WORKS
A qualified panel of three judges—comprised of subject-matter experts and representatives from the partner district use cases selected by the competition organizers—score finalist submissions. The following are judging statements judges will use to evaluate Final Deliverable Packages for the Class of 2024-2025:
PROJECT PROPOSAL - The proposal presents a clear and concise summary of the project. The presentation makes a compelling case for why the proposed solution is the best choice for meeting the goals and constraints of the district use case.
CONCEPTUAL SYSTEM DESIGN - Conceptual system design proposes creative and innovative solution that responds to district goals, observes site and financial constraints, and demonstrates excellent analysis, system design, optimal battery use strategy, and understanding of the PV hosting capacity with distribution constraints.
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS - Financial analyses communicate 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 in the Excel-based financial model.
DEVELOPMENT PLAN - Proposed development plans including building, site, construction, and interconnection, add significant value in a comprehensive, actionable, and feasible approach for the district, AHJ, and surrounding community members with distributional equity.
COMPETITION DELIVERABLES
Teams participating for the full academic year are expected to submit two deliverables: a Progress Deliverable Package part way through the competition and a Final Deliverable Package. Teams that submit the Progress Deliverable receive feedback from the organizer staff.
Student teams participating for just the spring semester (or winter and spring quarters) compete within their own division and submit only the Final Deliverable Package in April.
Competition deliverables are submitted via the online HeroX competition platform. Refer to the official Class of 2024-2025 Rules document for details about what teams were meant to include in each of the deliverables.
ELIGIBILITY
The Solar District Cup invites teams with at least three students enrolled in accredited U.S.-based collegiate institutions to participate. Students must be enrolled in at least one class and must be pursuing a degree during the competition. Note that graduating during the competition period does not disqualify team members.
To be eligible to present to judges, team members must not have graduated any earlier than the fall semester or quarter immediately preceding the final competition event. Students and faculty advisors are not required to be U.S. citizens at the time of the competition. Judges, competition organizer staff, and DOE and national laboratory employees are ineligible to compete.
Although any level of collegiate student is eligible to compete, the scope is intended to be challenging for multidisciplinary teams of upper-level undergraduate students. Student participation may be integrated into a senior design or capstone project, count as elective or independent study course credit, be added to the curriculum of existing classes, be treated as a seminar topic, be 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 mentor or faculty advisor at their institution, they can contact the competition organizers for help.
By uploading a deliverable package, a team certifies that it complies with the eligibility requirements. If the organizers become aware that a team or individual is not eligible, that team may be disqualified from the competition.
In this year's U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar District Cup Collegiate Design Competition, 43 student teams from 38 schools are entering an ever-widening community of competitors and alumni.
On Oct. 1, 2024, DOE announcedthe schools participating in the full-academic-year version of the competition.
Schools participating with student teams in the full-academic-year timeline of the Solar District Cup Class of 2024–2025:
Appalachian State University
Arizona State University (Winter/Spring timeline)
Boise State University
Boston University
Colorado School of Mines
Columbia University
Community College of Philadelphia
Cornell University
Drexel University
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Hampton University
Houston Community College
Illinois State University (Winter/Spring timeline)
Manhattan University
Navajo Technical University
New Jersey Institute of Technology (including one Winter/Spring team)
New York Institute of Technology
North Carolina State University
Northeastern University
Oregon Institute of Technology
Portland State University
Southern Methodist University
Texas A&M University
The College of New Jersey
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
The George Washington University
The Johns Hopkins University
The University of Alabama
University of California, Merced
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of Colorado Boulder (Winter/Spring timeline)
University of Dayton
University of Illinois, Chicago
University of Massachusetts Lowell
University of Minnesota Duluth
University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus
University of Utah
Villanova University
"We are honored to see the growing community of competitors, with both returning schools and new schools added to the roster this year," said Sara Farrar, competition organizer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. "We hear back from so many students that this competition was crucial to their entry into clean energy careers, and we are helping to connect these future leaders so that they become mentors, themselves."
This year, teams will compete in as many as six divisions. Five divisions will have assigned districts, and one division will be for teams that choose to specify their own district use cases. Two divisions will begin the competition in a condensed version of the program that closes registration on HeroX in January 2025.
The three district use case partners for which students start their designs this fall are Seattle Colleges, State University of New York at Oneonta, and The College of New Jersey.
Congratulations to these teams! We are looking forward to meeting you!
If you have any questions or are interested in getting involved with the Solar District Cup as a competitor, partner, industry mentor, or judge, . You can also follow the Class of 2024–2025 as they advance through the competition.
The Solar District Cup registration deadline for the full-year competition is today!
Teams that register by today’s deadline will have more time to execute projects and access training, the chance to define their own district use case, and feedback from competition organizers on progress deliverables.
Collegiate teams interested in participating in the full academic-year-long competition must register by today—Thursday, Sept. 26, at 5 p.m. ET.
Here’s a reminder on how to register your team—you don’t need to have any work done, but you do need to follow these steps:
Click the “Solve this Challenge” button at the top of this page: You will receive a confirmation email about HeroX registration, but you won’t be enrolled yet in the competition.
Click on the “Begin Entry” button at the top of the Solar District Cup HeroX main page once you’ve signed up for the site.
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!
Pictured teams are from Pennsylvania State University (left), Macalester College (center), and Santa Clara University.
If today’s deadline isn’t feasible for your team, keep in mind that there is another way to participate this year: Registration on HeroX will re-open soon for the condensed version of the competition on a one-semester/two-quarter timeline. The registration deadline for the condensed version of the competition is January 16, 2025.
But we urge you to register today by 5 p.m. ET for full academic-year participation—Please send any questions about registering your team to !
We hope to see your school among the teams participating in the Class of 2024–2025!
Apologies to those who received this yesterday - The actual deadline is still Thursday, and you still have one more day to register your team for the full-academic-year competition!
Collegiate teams interested in participating in the academic-year-long Solar District Cup competition must register by Thursday, Sept. 26, at 5 p.m. ET. Applying by this date offers the many benefits of the full competition experience, including more time to execute projects, the chance to define your own district use case, and feedback from competition organizers on progress deliverables.
Team pictures are from Texas A&M (top), West Texas A&M (bottom right), and University of Colorado Boulder
To register your team: Just click the “Solve this Challenge” button at the top of the HeroX Solar District Cup page to get started! You don’t need to have any work done, but you do need to follow these steps:
Once you click the “Solve this Challenge” button at the top of the HeroX page, you will receive a confirmation email about HeroX registration, but you won’t be enrolled yet in the competition.
Click on the “Begin Entry” button at the top of the Solar District Cup HeroX main page once you’ve signed up for the site.
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 team registration.
Here’s how you know your team is registered for the competition: You will receive a welcome email from the Solar District Cup organizers signaling that you are officially registered to compete!
Have questions? Contact the competition organizers to schedule a one-on-one meeting and have your questions answered: .
If you are considering competing in the Solar District Cup, check out Pt. 2 of the advice past competitors have shared about success in this competition. And don't forget to register by 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26!
Watch Solar District Cup alumni share their advice for future competitors:
The registration deadline for the full-year competition is Sept. 26—this Thursday!
Are you ready to enter?
Just click the “Solve this Challenge” button at the top of the HeroX Solar District Cup page to get started! You don’t need to have any work done, but you do need to follow these steps:
Once you click the “Solve this Challenge” button at the top of the HeroX page, you will receive a confirmation email about HeroX registration, but you won’t be enrolled yet in the competition.
Click on the “Begin Entry” button at the top of the Solar District Cup HeroX main page once you’ve signed up for the site.
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 team registration.
Here’s how you know your team is registered for the competition: You will receive a welcome email from the Solar District Cup organizers signaling that you are officially registered to compete!
Applying by this date offers teams an enhanced competition experience, including three more months to execute their projects, the chance to define their own district use case, and feedback from competition organizers on progress deliverables.
We hope to see you participate in the Solar District Cup this fall!
If you’re thinking about competing, check out this video of past competitors talking about the skills they learned by participating in the Solar District Cup! These skills were useful both in the renewable energy industry and in general professional contexts. Watch as they talk about what they learned:
The experience of competing in the Solar District Cup has given hundreds of students a leg up as they look for renewable energy internships, jobs, and other professional roles. We are sharing videos from past competitors here on HeroX and on NREL’s Instagram Stories every Tuesday in September.
Ready to enter?
Collegiate teams interested in participating in the academic year-long Solar District Cup competition may register in advance to get started before the deadline on Thursday, Sept. 26 at 5 p.m. ET.
Applying by this date offers teams an enhanced competition experience, including three more months to execute their projects, the chance to define their own district use case, and feedback from competition organizers on progress deliverables.
Just click the “Solve this Challenge” button at the top of the HeroX Solar District Cup page to get started! You don’t need to have any work done, but you do need to follow these steps:
Once you click the “Solve this Challenge” button at the top of the HeroX page, you will receive a confirmation email about HeroX registration, but you won’t be enrolled yet in the competition.
Click on the “Begin Entry” button at the top of the Solar District Cup HeroX main page once you’ve signed up for the site.
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 team registration.
Here’s how you know your team is registered for the competition: You will receive a welcome email from the Solar District Cup organizers signaling that you are officially registered to compete!
We hope to see you participate in the Solar District Cup this fall—and stay tuned for more videos from Solar District Cup alumni!
All submissions must be associated with a university team. When signing up for the Solar District Cup, you will have the option to create a team then or anytime after you register. HeroX has a "how to" guide. This guide will also show you how to invite team members and update your team name.
If you've registered but need to create a team after the deadline, contact the competition organizers at .
To follow the challenge, leave a comment, or register to compete, you need to register on HeroX.com. All you need to provide is your name and email address.
If you plan to compete with a team from your collegiate institution, just click the “Solve This Challenge” button on this page and follow the instructions to complete your registration.
If you are an enrolled student pursuing a degree or a faculty advisor at an eligible U.S. collegiate institution, YES, but your participation will be associated with your collegiate institution.
If you encounter an issue when attempting to participate or register for the challenge, you may need to contact HeroX or the Competition Administrators.
You may try to connect with HeroX using the online form that appears in the bottom right corner of your browser window—it says “Leave a Message.”
You may also send a message to the competition inbox at .
Please allow at least 1 business day for a response.
The Solar District Cup is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office and administered and executed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
