The American-Made Solar Prize is a multimillion-dollar prize competition designed to energize U.S. solar innovation. The prize consists of a series of contests that accelerate the entrepreneurial process from years to months. Spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO), and in partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Solar Prize utilizes a program structure designed to strengthen and scale critical connections that accelerate and sustain American innovation. The program achieves this through two intertwined components: a prize competition and the American-Made Network.
The JEDI Contest is focused on four key areas:
- Opportunity Space: Competitors rigorously assess the needs of underserved communities and uncover key insights from potential customers or end users of the product.
- Solution Development: Competitors design and develop a solution to overcome identified barriers.
- Market Impact: Competitors measure progress and validate assumptions with potential customers, users, or market experts during development and testing to demonstrate the solution’s impact and need in underserved communities.
- Network Activation: Competitors advance the proposed solution by cultivating a diverse network of mentors and partners, which can include members of the American-Made Network, funders, and other relevant entities.
The goal of the Go! Contest period is focused on four key areas:
- Prototype Development: The completion of a prototype that incorporates lessons learned and feedback from potential users and that can be demonstrated in a video presentation and/or in person. For software solutions, the prototype should be a refined software product showing improvements beyond the minimum viable product.
- Pilot Test Partnering or Paying Customers: Demonstrate the commercial viability of the innovation through a committed partnership, which could be a committed pilot partner or secured credible customers, as evidenced by a legally binding agreement to conduct a pilot test or payment 28, 29, 30 receipts.
- Network Development: The solidification of a core network of mentors and partners to work with to help advance the proposed solution. This network can include national labs, members of the American-Made Network, funders, and private partners.
- Post-Contest Planning: The development of a long-term plan for the ongoing success of the effort—specifically, a compelling case that there is, or will soon be, sufficient funding in place to keep the effort going beyond this prize contest.
Program Policy Factors
- Geographic diversity and potential economic impact of projects in a variety of solar markets
- Whether the use of additional DOE funds and provided resources continues to be nonduplicative and compatible with the stated goals of this program and DOE’s mission generally
- The degree to which the submission exhibits technological or programmatic diversity when compared to the existing DOE project portfolio and other competitors
- The level of industry involvement and demonstrated ability to accelerate commercialization and overcome key market barriers
- The degree to which the submission is likely to lead to increased employment and manufacturing in the United States or provide other economic benefit to U.S. taxpayers
- The degree to which the submission will accelerate transformational technological, financial, or workforce advances in areas that industry by itself is not likely to undertake because of technical or financial uncertainty
- The degree to which the submission supports complementary DOE efforts or projects, which, when taken together, will best achieve the research goals and objectives
- The degree to which the submission expands DOE’s funding to new competitors and recipients that have not been supported by DOE in the past
- The degree to which the submission exhibits team member diversity and the inclusion of underrepresented groups, with participants including but not limited to graduates and students of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and other minority-serving institutions (MSIs), or members operating within HUBZones,42 Justice 40 disadvantaged communities, and other underserved communities.
- The degree to which the submission enables new and expanding market segments
- Whether the project promotes increased coordination with nongovernmental entities for the demonstration of technologies and research applications to facilitate technology transfer.
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