Introducing the Solar District Cup Class of 2024–2025 – CleanTechnica

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Community of Solar-Plus-Storage Collegiate Design Competitors Keeps Growing Stronger

Students from 38 schools are entering an ever-widening community of competitors and alumni involved in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar District Cup Collegiate Design Competition. In its sixth year, the Solar District Cup continues to challenge students to design and model solar and solar-plus-storage systems for real mixed-use districts.

As part of efforts from the DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) to grow the solar workforce, the Solar District Cup continues to evolve and attract college competitors from across the United States and Puerto Rico.

At this stage of registration, 43 teams from 38 colleges and universities will represent the Solar District Cup Class of 2024–2025, designing and modeling solar energy systems like hundreds of teams that have competed before them. More teams will join the competition on a condensed timeline that closes registration on Jan. 16, 2025.

Inspiring Students To Join the Solar Workforce

The Solar District Cup seeks to inspire students to consider new career opportunities, learn industry-relevant skills, engage with the professional marketplace, and prepare to become leaders in clean energy.

In 2023, clean energy jobs grew more than twice the rate of the overall economy, as reported in the 2024 United States Energy and Employment Jobs Report. The solar sector alone jumped by 5.3% over the previous year. This growth is necessary for the United States to meet its clean energy goals of an inclusive, equitable transition to a fully decarbonized electricity system by 2035.

The Solar District Cup supports students’ exploration of the solar industry, offering training in the full solar design process—from clients’ requests for proposals to financial analysis and community-inclusive development plans to pitch presentations. The competition also connects students with industry mentors and curates a jobs board of open entry-level positions and internships for students to consider.

Watch a series of short videos to hear Solar District Cup alumni offer advice to this year’s competition class and talk about the industry-relevant skills they developed throughout the competition.

Growing the Community of Competitors

One of the benefits of competing in the Solar District Cup is the opportunity to attend an event hosted by RE+, including the annual national conference.

“I enjoyed meeting Solar District Cup alumni at the RE+ conference this year,” said SETO Director Becca Jones-Albertus. “The skills these students learned in the competition, like how to address complex challenges as a team, and knowledge they gained about solar energy technology will serve them well in their next endeavors. Their growth and enthusiasm are inspiring.”

This year, teams will compete in as many as six divisions. Five divisions will have assigned districts, and one division will be for teams that choose to specify their own district use cases. Two of these divisions will begin the competition in a condensed version of the program that closes registration on HeroX in January 2025.

Competition organizers will provide all relevant data to the teams choosing to be assigned a district. The teams participating in the “bring-your-own-district” option will design plans for their own college campus or other chosen district. Regardless of division, all teams have the opportunity to reimagine how energy is generated and managed within their districts.

The three assigned district use cases for students starting this fall are Seattle Colleges, State University of New York at Oneonta, and The College of New Jersey.

Participating Schools in the Solar District Cup Class of 2024–2025

The schools participating with student teams in the full-academic-year timeline of the Solar District Cup Class of 2024–2025 include:

• Appalachian State University
• Arizona State University (Winter/Spring timeline)
• Boise State University
• Boston University
• Colorado School of Mines
• Columbia University
• Community College of Philadelphia
• Cornell University
• Drexel University
• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
• Hampton University
• Houston Community College
• Illinois State University (Winter/Spring timeline)
• Manhattan University
• Navajo Technical University
• New Jersey Institute of Technology
• New York Institute of Technology
• North Carolina State University
• Northeastern University
• Oregon Institute of Technology
• Portland State University
• Southern Methodist University
• Texas A&M University–College Station
• The College of New Jersey
  (including one Winter/Spring team)
• The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
• The George Washington University
• The Johns Hopkins University
• The University of Alabama
• University of California, Merced
• University of California, Santa Barbara
• University of Colorado Boulder
  (Winter/Spring timeline)
• University of Dayton
• University of Illinois, Chicago
• University of Massachusetts Lowell
• University of Minnesota Duluth
• University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus
• University of Utah
• Villanova University

“We are honored to see the growing community of competitors, with both returning schools and new schools added to the roster this year,” said Sara Farrar, competition organizer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. “We hear back from so many students that this competition was crucial to their entry into clean energy careers, and we are helping to connect these future leaders so that they become mentors, themselves.”

Throughout the competition, partnering organizations, including Aurora and RE+ Events, provide students with training and tools. Their support is critical to student success in the competition and beyond as the students continue their education and enter the renewable energy workforce.

Teams will now begin to work on their designs before reaching their first milestone in the competition, the submission of their Progress Deliverable Packages in November.

Still Time To Register for the Competition

Collegiate teams can still register for the competition until Jan. 16, 2025.

If you have any questions or are interested in getting involved with the Solar District Cup as a competitor, partner, industry mentor, or judge, contact the Solar District Cup organizers. You can also follow the Class of 2024–2025 as they advance through the competition.

News courtesy of NREL.