American-Made Solar Prize
Offers the American-Made Solar Prize for teams delivering solar commercialization advances in hardware and software through merit-based challenges.
The American-Made Solar Prize is SETO's multi-round challenge series for US solar hardware and software commercialization. It runs on HeroX and has become one of the office's most visible prize mechanisms, separate from the office's grant FOAs. Recent rounds have ranged from the Round 5 hardware prize pool at $3.0 million to Round 8 at $4.0 million, with Round 6 at $4.1 million and Round 7 at $4.2 million. The prize is open to US-based teams across for-profit firms, nonprofits, universities, research organizations, and individuals, and the structured record keeps it on an annual prize cycle rather than a grant calendar. Round 5 was split into hardware and software tracks, which shows the series can separate product work from platform work when needed. As of May 2026, Round 8 had closed judging and no Round 9 had been announced. The series is useful for teams that want non-dilutive recognition and commercialization momentum around solar technology, but its next step is uncertain because the current round is between cycles.
No upcoming rounds verified. Cadence: Annual.