SOLAR DESALINATION PRIZE

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY SOLICITS INNOVATIONS FOR $9 MILLION SOLAR DESALINATION PRIZE COMPETITION

By Ms. Meghan Hughes

In April, the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office launched the Solar Desalination Prize, a $9 million prize competition designed to accelerate the development of solarthermal energy-powered desalination systems.

Using solar-thermal desalination to treat non-traditional water sources, such as those produced by oil and gas extraction, has the potential to reduce electricity costs, which accounts for up to half the expenses for state-of-the-art desalination plants.

The Solar Desalination prize is part of the American-Made Challenges (AMC) Network, a series of prize competitions aimed at incentivizing the nation's entrepreneurs to strengthen American leadership in energy innovation and domestic manufacturing.

The prize competition is structured in four phases. In each of the first three, competitors are selected to advance to the next phase.

In the first phase of the competition, participants submit innovative concepts. If chosen to advance from the innovation phase, competitors form teams or join forces to bring their innovations to the concept stage. Throughout the competition, competitors have the opportunity to win over $2 million in cash prizes and $200,000 in vouchers. The vouchers cover the cost of work at a national laboratory or facility in the American-Made Network to validate the desalination technology proposed by the chosen competitors.

By the end of the competition, the teams will have designed a solarthermal desalination system, obtained the necessary permitting and approval documents, built the system, and then demonstrated the operation of the system.

The National Renewable Energy Lab, which administers the AMC Network, is also seeking connectors to help support the competitors by providing technical expertise, testing facilities and other resources.

Competitor submissions for the first phase are due July 16.

Read the competition’s official rules for details on submissions and competitor eligibility. Learn more about the American Made Challenges Prizes by visiting https:// americanmadechallenges.org/.

Sign up to receive updates on the Solar Desalination Prize.