Ready to test your creativity, ingenuity, and passion for designing highly efficient and innovative buildings powered by renewable energy? The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon® 2020 Design Challenge is ready for you!

The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University team was victorious as the Grand Winner at the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon^® Design Challenge Weekend. The event was held on April 12–14, 2019, at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, and included 45 finalist teams, representing 37 collegiate institutions, across the United States and other countries.

Love designing high-performance buildings? Ready for the experience of a lifetime? The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon^® Design Challenge is ready for you.

Collegiate institutions can start preparing for the 2020 Design Challenge, planned for April 17–19, 2020, at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado.

Five weeks and counting! Our teams have been working hard, and we’re excited to announce this year's finalist teams for the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon® Design Challenge.

These collegiate institutions represent a mix of new and returning teams that have participated in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon^® in previous years. Below are the teams participating in the Build Challenge.

By Joan Glickman,
DOE Building Technologies Office

UAE in November ... A mix of other-worldly modernism, stunning mosques, an impressive Louvre, beautiful beaches and more ... standing side by side in the desert heat, where 90°F is considered mild. And, amidst all this, about 50 miles outside of Dubai, 15 energy- and water-efficient homes, with state-of-the-art technologies, designed and constructed by hundreds of students from across the globe. Sounds like a dream, but it was actually a reality.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is excited to announce the prize amounts for the Solar Decathlon 2020 Build Challenge. Solar Decathlon Build Challenge teams work during a two-year period to design and build complete houses that incorporate state-of-the-art energy and building design practices and technologies. DOE will select up to 12 finalist teams across the Local Build and National Showcase Divisions. All finalist teams that meet Solar Decathlon Build Challenge requirements will receive prize funds to assist in defraying their costs. Funds will be provided at various points during the two-year period pending completion of specific deliverables and requirements.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon continues to “push the envelope” on the design of the most high-performance, efficient, affordable, innovative buildings while leveraging opportunities to showcase student innovation and STEM education, as well as to foster workforce development opportunities.

Participating as a team in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is an intense but rewarding endeavor. What makes the Solar Decathlon unique is the interdisciplinary nature of the competition, requiring student and faculty involvement from multiple disciplines and departments, and the real-life experience it provides to students, preparing them for jobs after graduation. At the same time, this requires a lot of support and cooperation from the collegiate institution.

If you missed this week's webinar on the new U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon, you can view it on our website. The webinar, "Kick Start Your Solar Decathlon Competition!", provided an overview of the competition.

DOE will host two more Solar Decathlon webinars, which will discuss competition requirements and answer questions.

Solar Decathlon Design Challenge
Date: September 12, 2018
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 p.m. ET

Solar Decathlon Build Challenge
Date: September 13, 2018
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 p.m. ET