Register for the Solar Decathlon 2025 Design Challenge by Oct. 23!
Solar Decathletes in the 2024 Design Challenge pose with their certificates at the final competition event in Golden, Colorado. (Credit: National Renewable Energy Laboratory)
Only three weeks remain for college students to join the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon® 2025 Design Challenge!
Register by Oct. 23, 2024 to compete against teams from around the world in DOE’s longest-running student competition focused on zero-energy building design.
Each year, Design Challenge teams create high-performance, low-carbon building designs that address real-world issues such as community impacts, affordability, and resilience. Finalist teams are invited to the competition event at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, in April 2025 to compete against U.S. and international teams.
New elements of the 2025 Design Challenge include:
- An expansion to the Education Building Division, allowing teams to explore educational facilities for both K–12 and higher education students.
- A new Open Commercial Division, encouraging students to address zero-energy solutions for commercial spaces of their choosing, including civic and public buildings, hospitality, and retail.
- Two new awards: “Innovative Retrofit Project” and “Innovative Equity Project.”
Additional information on the divisions, the 10 contests that make up the decathlon, and more can be found in the 2025 Design Challenge rules. Watch the Kickoff Webinar recording for additional details or email SDDesign@nrel.gov with questions.
Mark your calendars for key competition dates and register today!
- Oct. 23, 2024: Team registration closes.
- Dec. 3, 2024: Deadline for students to submit their optional, but encouraged, preliminary project summaries.
- Feb. 21–22, 2025: Students present their preliminary designs to industry expert jurors at a virtual semifinal competition event.
April 25–27, 2025: Selected finalist teams compete in person or virtually during the competition event hosted at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. Exhibition teams are also invited to present projects to the industry.