Solar Prize Round 8

The Solar Prize Round 8 has announced its semifinalists! Twenty teams with innovative ideas to introduce to the solar marketplace were each awarded $50,000, and will now move on to the Set! Contest to advance their solutions towards commercialization. Four of these semifinalist teams also received an additional $25,000 in the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Contest for demonstrating that their concepts can help address systemic barriers to deploying solar in underserved communities.

Congratulations to the following semifinalist teams (organized alphabetically):

Deployment and Workforce

• Cosmic Robotics (San Francisco, CA) – This team is developing robots to pick up and place solar modules on single-axis solar trackers, automating a dangerous and laborious task in the installation process. Through this innovation, a network of robots could work alongside human crews to accelerate the deployment of utility-scale solar.
• IWNL Energy (Orlando, FL) – This team is developing a multilingual, comprehensive, user-centered software platform called the Solar Energy Career Navigator. This platform aims to reduce barriers to entry and bridge the gap between potential workers and employers, guiding them toward fulfilling careers in the solar energy sector. JEDI Winner.
• PowerTechs (Austin, TX) – This team is developing a reskilling and skills assessment platform for the renewable energy workforce that combines artificial intelligence and extended reality. This solution will help address the solar workforce shortage and accelerate deployment of solar energy.
• Samtracs(San Antonio, TX) – This team is automating solar farm construction through on-site, mobile construction equipment combined with redesigned single-axis tracker components. This new assembly process and tracker design will reduce labor requirements for solar farm construction and decrease construction time.
• Solar Tech Collective (Tucson, AZ) – This team is developing a mobile-based training app, SolTrain, for solar installation field technicians. The app will provide microlessons focused on essential field skills and will validate technician competency to lower operational costs for solar asset owners. 

Dual-Use PV 

• Fundusol, LLC (Stanford, CA) – This team is developing a modeling software to design and optimize agrivoltaics systems by modeling multiple factors to predict the performance of the agrivoltaic system on each farm's crop and/or livestock. This solution will help accelerate the deployment of solar in agricultural environments.
• Icarus (San Diego County, CA) – This team is developing a solution that integrates PV and solar thermal technologies by capturing and converting waste heat to create a hybrid PV and thermal cogeneration system. This solution will improve the power performance of commercial PV arrays and generate hot water that can be stored for on-demand energy needs.
• Serida Inc. (Ithaca, NY) – This team is developing an agrivoltaics deployment software to enable solar developers to design agrivoltaic systems through advanced microclimate modeling and crop algorithms. This solution will help empower rural communities to go solar by maximizing the community benefits of agrivoltaics.
• Watts on Water (San Diego, CA) – This team is developing an automated, geographic information system-based solar siting and design software tailored to floating photovoltaics (FPV) systems. Through FPV-specific design parameters and co-benefits analysis, this solution will support the deployment of FPV through streamlining tools such as siting and design and customer acquisition.

Finance and Business Models

• Eighth Generation Consulting (Osage County, OK) – This team is developing a solar asset management software using artificial intelligence, computer vision, geographic information systems, and permitting data to streamline how solar is permitted, serviced, and decommissioned. Through cradle-to-grave tracking, this solution will enable accurate and cost-effective management and decommissioning of solar assets. JEDI Winner.
• Greengrid, Inc. (Laconia, NH) – This team is developing a platform that finances solar rooftop projects in disadvantaged communities by leveraging corporate renewable energy certificate (REC) commitments. By bundling small-scale solar projects into large, high-impact REC portfolios, this solution reduces financial barriers to rooftop solar for underserved communities.
• Rayva (Gilbert, AZ) – This team is partnering with roofers and builders to install their building-integrated solar modules during the construction of new homes or roof replacements. This building-integrated solar module, combined with a streamlined business-to-business sales model, will reduce costs and expand the availability of solar to homeowners, including those in underserved communities. JEDI Winner.
• TEAM CBA (Atlanta, GA) – This team is developing a tool to help communities and renewable energy project sponsors develop community benefit agreements. The tool assists with facilitating discovery and research, establishing key impact initiatives and success indicators, drafting and monitoring agreements, and tracking and reporting. JEDI Winner.

Photovoltaics (PV)

• Full Charge Solar (Austin, TX) – This team is developing a fully collapsible, emission-free, cart-based solar array with a battery and inverter that requires little to no maintenance. This system provides electricity throughout the day while charging a battery to provide electricity at night and can serve emergency situations when power is not available.
• Martin Solar (Mascoutah, IL) – This team is developing a new mounting system for residential solar that does not require drilling into homeowners’ roofs. This leak-proof mount will protect rooftops from damage and increase consumer confidence in rooftop solar.
• Plug & Play Solar Wing (Atlanta, GA) – This team is developing a quick-deploy, expandable solar PV array suitable for applications such as carports and disaster relief. This expandable design allows the Solar Wing to eliminate more than 95% of onsite installation activities, making it easy to relocate to new sites in the future. 

Systems Integration

• Expand Power Technologies, Inc. (San Francisco, CA) – This team is developing a novel inverter-based transformer that is smaller, safer, and smarter than traditional designs. This compact solution will expand access to solar in space-limited areas, such as urban environments, and reduce lead times by leveraging U.S.-based manufacturing capabilities.
• Flip Energy (San Francisco, CA) – This team is developing a turnkey platform to allow homeowners with solar and storage to more easily participate in virtual power plants, which can allow them to generate revenue from their solar + storage systems. This solution will help make residential solar and storage more affordable and accessible for homeowners while also supporting grid reliability.
• NetMeterGO.com (Las Vegas, NV) - This team is developing a platform that automates affordable net meter interconnection for small- and medium-sized utilities. This solution will equitably promote solar power through streamlined and automated interconnection queue management.
• WattShift, Inc. (Chicago, IL) – This team is developing a software platform for managing home energy devices, aligning demand with renewable energy availability. This management system dynamically optimizes energy use while reducing consumer costs and enabling more renewables on the grid.

For the second year in a row, the Solar Prize also awarded additional teams through the Power Up Contest to support promising projects that were not selected to advance to the next stage of competition. Seven teams were selected as Power Up awardees, earning a cash prize and an invitation to participate in the Power Up Program, where they’ll receive tailored support to refine their ideas and strengthen their business plans to be more competitive in future competitions.

The Power Up Contest winners are as follows (organized alphabetically):

• BloomBox Design Labs (Menlo Park, CA)
• Insitu Energy (San Francisco, CA)
• Okovate Sustainable Energy (Oxon Hill, MD)
• Sprightful (Miami, FL)
• Sundial (Spanish Fork, UT)
• Team Little Bob (Newark, DE)
• Venki Energy (Silver Spring, MD)

Congratulations to all the winners! And thank you for the engagement and effort of all the teams who applied to Round 8 of the Solar Prize. We hope you will continue to advance your ideas and stay engaged with the American-Made community! You can tap into the American-Made Network for support and subscribe to the American-Made newsletter to stay up to date on future opportunities. We can’t wait to see what you do next!

Today’s your last chance to turn in the Ready! Contest submission package for the Solar Prize Round 8. If you haven’t yet applied, make sure you do as soon as possible. Deadline is 5 p.m. ET, and late entries will not be accepted.

As a reminder, please carefully review the Official Rules prior to uploading your final submission. 

We look forward to seeing your entries—good luck!

If you’re applying for Solar Prize Round 8, make sure your application is submitted by Thursday, Sept. 26, at 5 p.m. ET. We highly encourage you to apply early to avoid technical difficulties. The submission portal closes at 5 p.m. ET sharp, so make sure you hit submit before then! We will not accept late submissions. 

To help guide you, check out the Challenge Resources page to see all helpful materials in one place, including: 

• Official Rules
• Informational Webinar recording
• Power Connectors 
• Ready! Submission Template
• JEDI Contest – Ready! Contest Template.

Don’t forget that Power Connectors are available to provide complimentary support around submission materials. 

This is your chance to win part of the $4.2 million prize pool for your innovative contributions to the solar industry. Enter the Solar Prize Round 8 today!

Still have questions about applying for the Solar Prize Round 8? Join Power Connector office hours today to get your answers! 

Solar Prize Power Connectors—including ADL Ventures, Encolor, IVT, The University of Arizona Center for Innovation, VentureWell—will be on hand for an office hours session today, Sept. 16, starting at 12 p.m. ET, to provide a refresher on the prize, then field submission questions in individual breakout rooms. Attendees can jump into breakout rooms to ask questions or find the right type of support for their upcoming submissions.

With less than two weeks until the Round 8 deadline, now’s the time to get the support you need to turn in the best possible application. Mark your calendars and register now for this helpful session! 

Get your submissions ready for the Solar Prize Round 8! The deadline to apply is Sept. 26 at 5 p.m. ET. Prize administrators strongly encourage uploading your submission as early as possible to ensure technical difficulties don’t prevent you from completing your submission. 

Read through the Official Rules for a detailed look at what to include in your submission package. In the meantime, see the snapshot below:

• Submission form: Make sure to include Connector Recognition Reward nominations and complete the required question
• 90-second video: State the problem and how your project solves it  
• Cover page content: Include project name, location, and members
• Narrative: Answer four narrative questions (not to exceed 2,500 words)
• One summary PowerPoint slide: Include technically specific details but that can be understood by most people
• Letters of commitment or support: Attach one-page letters of support, intent, or commitment from relevant entities 
• Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Contest submission: Optional for entrants but required for JEDI consideration (not to exceed 500 words). 

If your project advances solar adoption in underserved communities, you have the chance to be considered for the JEDI Contest and earn part of the $200,000 bonus cash prize! To be eligible, follow the steps in the Official Rules, ensuring you describe your team’s unique value proposition to underserved communities as part of your JEDI Contest submission. 

Still have questions about applying for the Solar Prize Round 8? Join Power Connector office hours on Monday, Sept. 16, to find submission support from the Power Connectors! 

Don’t wait until the 5 p.m. ET deadline to upload your submission. Prize administrators will not accept late entries. We look forward to seeing your solar solutions!