Today (Jan 11), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) announced the 20 teams selected to advance to the semifinal stage of the multi-million dollar American-Made Solar Prize Round 7. The semifinalists will each receive $50,000 in cash and compete in the next round of the competition. Four of the semifinalists received a $25,000 bonus cash prize for winning the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Contest, which encourages solutions that enable underserved communities to overcome systemic barriers to solar deployment.
DOE also awarded $10,000 prizes to 10 teams through the Power Up Contest, a new contest in the Solar Prize designed to support new and diverse entrants to the solar industry. The teams were rewarded for submissions that showed strong potential but were not selected to move on to the Set! Contest. Awardees will use their cash award, along with support from American-Made Power Connectors to strengthen their innovations and business plans to be more competitive in future competitions.
Photovoltaics (PV)
- Couillard Solar Foundation Team (Deerfield, WI) - JEDI Contest Winner
- Pavilion Solar (Miami, FL)
- PowerMe (El Cerrito, CA)
- Vatio (Palo Alto, CA)
Systems Integration
- Addicted 2 Impact (Ladera Ranch, CA) - JEDI Contest Winner
- Buck Boost (Apex, NC)
- NC Solar Inverters (Cary, NC)
Dual-Use PV
- ICoN Energy (Ithaca, NY)
- VL Offshore (Houston, TX)
- Voltic Shipping (Whitney, TX)
Finance and Business Models
- 1Climate (New York City, NY)
- Electra (Bellingham, WA)
- EmpowerSun Solutions (Denver, CO) - JEDI Contest Winner
- Fram Energy (San Francisco, CA)
- Wildgrid, Inc. (New York City, NY)
System Operations
- Keeping Solar Power Plants Green (Xenia, OH)
- Reliable Autonomy (Basking Ridge, NJ)
- Solar Unsoiled (Durham, NC)
Deployment and Workforce
- Gritt Robotics (Belmont, CA)
- Midwest Renewable Energy Association (Custer, WI) - JEDI Contest Winner
The Power Up Contest winners are:
- Amaterra Tech (Austin, TX)
- Ark Power Systems (Lake Linden, MI)
- Soltheos (Denver, CO)
- Exergi (Buffalo, NY)
- Full Charge Solar (Mesquite, TX)
- Fundusol (Stanford, CA)
- Modular Microgrids (Mount Joy, PA)
- NAS-LIION (South Orange, NJ)
- Recode Energy (Denver, CO)
- First Principle Energy (Sunnyvale, CA)
In the coming months, semifinalist teams will work to refine their concepts and prepare their pitches and demonstrations for the Set! Demo Day virtual event in April 2024. Learn more about the American-Made Solar Prize.
For more information
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Washington District of Columbia
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www.energy.gov
