2024 Design Challenge

Join the Kickoff Webinar for the 2025 Design Challenge on Sept. 10

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon® 2025 Design Challenge is open for registration!

Interested in designing buildings that better serve your community? Join the kickoff webinar on Sept. 10 at noon ET to learn about the changes to the competition for this year, including division changes and the new “Innovative Retrofit Project” and “Innovative Equity Project” awards. The webinar will be geared toward interested students and faculty members.

Be sure to register your team for the 2025 Design Challenge no later than Oct. 23 to be able to participate. Questions? Email SDDesign@nrel.gov.

Students from the University of Arizona won multiple awards at the 2024 Design Challenge for their partnership with the Hopi Tribe to design the Tawa’ovi Community Development project. Photo: NREL.

Registration is now open for the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon® 2025 Design Challenge! In this challenge, interdisciplinary collegiate teams will create efficient, resilient, and sustainable buildings that meet community needs as part of DOE’s longest-running student competition.

Each year, Design Challenge teams compete to create high-performance, low-carbon building designs that address real-world issues such as existing building retrofits, community impacts, affordability, and resilience. Learn more about the competition through the 2024 Design Challenge Recap video.

Forty teams from 37 collegiate institutions are advancing to the final stage of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon® 2024 Design Challenge based on their cutting-edge, zero energy building designs.

3 Days Remain! Nominate for the Solar Decathlon Alumni/Faculty Awards by Feb. 1

Only 3 days remain to nominate an outstanding U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon^® alumni or faculty lead for the Solar Decathlon Awards!

Join the 2024 Design Challenge by October 18, 2023, to compete in, mentor, or judge the international zero energy building design competition.

_{Students from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, present their high-performance building design at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, during the Solar Decathlon 2023 Competition Event.}

Less than four weeks remain to be a part of the 2024 Design Challenge with the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon^®!

Are you a student or professor interested in transforming buildings to tackle the climate crisis?

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon^® is seeking collegiate student participants from diverse majors to join the next round of the zero energy building design competition. Students from collegiate institutions in the United States and around the world are encouraged to form interdisciplinary teams and register!

One month remains for collegiate teams to register for the next U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon^® cycle! Change the status quo of the built environment by imagining a zero-energy building of the future as part of the hands-on 2023 Design Challenge.

Register your team today! Registration closes on October 26 at 5 p.m. ET.

2022 Design Challenge students presenting at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Join us for the Solar Decathlon Kickoff Webinar!

Know what it takes to create a winning team for the Solar Decathlon 2023 Design Challenge? Have questions before your collegiate team starts designing a zero energy building?

Fifty-five teams representing 38 universities are advancing as finalists in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon^® 2022 Design Challenge.

Finalist teams were chosen based on presentations and design submissions at the semifinal competition event, held virtually February 25–26, 2022. During this event, teams pitched their unique building designs, impressing industry expert jurors with their creativity and ability to tackle the most difficult issues in the built environment.