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SETO selected 10 teams to move on as finalists for Solar Prize Round 6, each earning $100,000 in cash and $75,000 in technical support vouchers. An additional 3 teams equally divided an award pool of $50,000 for their participation in the Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Contest, which seeks to boost underserved communities’ access to solar deployment. Finalists will now work to produce a refined prototype and perform a pilot test of their innovation ahead of the competition finale at the RE+ Conference in September.
DOE announced the expansion of its national SolSmart program to help another 500 cities, towns, counties, and regional organizations become solar energy leaders. This program provides no-cost technical assistance to help local governments meet nationally recognized best practices that encourage solar market growth, making it easier for communities across the United States to use clean, affordable solar energy. All local governments in the United States are eligible to join.
Don't forget to participate in these funding opportunities, prizes, and solicitations:
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Solar-thermal Fuels and Thermal Energy Storage via Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power Request for Information – Solar industry professionals, researchers, and others can submit responses and feedback by April 14.
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Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas Funding Opportunity – For- and non-profit entities, utilities, educational institutions, state, local, and tribal governments, environmental groups, cities, and towns can submit concept papers through April 14.
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American Industrial Decarbonization Funding Opportunity – Teams are encouraged to submit concept papers by April 17.
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Solarpunk Futures Scholarship Competition – Current undergraduate students are encouraged to enter this competition by April 30.
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Clean Energy to Communities (C2C) Program Peer-Learning Cohorts – Local governments can apply to learn from each other and national lab experts by May 8.
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C2C Program In-Depth Partnerships – Community teams consisting of representatives from local governments, community-based organizations, and electric utilities are encouraged to apply by May 17.
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Energizing Rural Communities Prize – Individuals and organizations can submit applications for phase one until May 24.
DOE launched the second round of its Clean Energy Innovator Fellowship, a unique workforce development program that matches recent graduates and new energy professionals to key energy organizations to advance clean energy solutions. Host institution applications are now open to electric public utility commissions, electric cooperatives and municipal utilities, essential energy organizations in Puerto Rico, Tribal utilities, Inter-Tribal councils and other Tribal organizations, and grid operators, with a deadline of April 27.
The DOE Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations announced $450 million in new funding to deploy solar and other clean energy projects on current (operating) and former (abandoned or inactive) mine land across the United States, which will help revitalize hard-hit energy communities and spur economic development.
The National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP) announced the winners of the Sunny Awards for Equitable Community Solar at its Annual Summit in January. Learn more about the Sunny Awards and view the winners’ best practices for delivering meaningful benefits to community solar subscribers.
April 10-13 | San Diego, CA
SETO experts will speak on panels and present at the upcoming IEEE PES Grid Edge Technologies conference in San Diego, California.
April 10-14 | San Francisco, CA
Join SETO at the MRS Spring Meeting to discuss the challenges and opportunities of halide perovskite photovoltaics.
April 12-14 | Denver, CO
SETO experts will be at this event exploring novel approaches to equitable adoption of solar electricity in underserved communities.
April 13 | 2 p.m. ET
i2X is hosting a new meeting series, the Solution e-Xchange, to facilitate open dialogue across the U.S. electricity ecosystem on important interconnection issues. Join the upcoming session, Interconnection Pre-Request Information for Bulk Power Systems.
April 20 | 1 p.m. ET
Join the AgriSolar Clearinghouse for a webinar series on agrivoltaics, the co-location of solar and agriculture on the same land. Additional webinars are scheduled in the coming months.
April 25 | 11:30 a.m. ET
The American-Made program is hosting an Earth Day event to celebrate the innovators and entrepreneurs supercharging the clean energy revolution. Hear from key energy industry players, past prize winners sharing their success stories, and prize administrators who will give updates on the latest winner announcements and new prize launches.
April 26 | 4 p.m. ET
SETO’s Systems Integration team is hosting a monthly webinar series. Register for their next webinar, titled, ‘Secure Monitoring and Control of Solar Power Distribution System Through Dynamic Watermarking.'
May 24-25 | Golden, CO
Join NREL for this in-person workshop about its new capability called the PEGI Platform. Register by April 20.
SETO is connecting the dots on solar innovation. Check out some of the SETO-funded innovations that benefit consumers, communities, and the solar industry:
Follow along with our Connect the Dots content on social media and join the conversation using the hashtag #ConnectSolar
Webinar Recap: Recent Advances in Experiments and Modeling of Grid-forming Systems
Learn more about SETO or DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
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