Project Summary: This team is creating a solar panel with a nano-textured heatsink. The heatsink structure increases the surface area of the back of the solar panel, helping the panel dissipate heat and lowering its peak operating temperature. The lower temperature may make the solar panel last longer.
The American-Made Solar Prize is a $3 million competition designed to revitalize solar manufacturing in the United States. Competitors may be entrepreneurial students, professors, small-business owners, company staffers, researchers at national laboratories, or anyone else based in the United States with a potentially marketable solar technology solution.
This challenge requires competitors to make progress on a condensed timeline, form private-sector partnerships, and secure investments to make their ideas a reality. On July 9, 2020, DOE launched Round 4 of the American-Made Solar Prize.
In the first phase of the competition, entrepreneurial individuals and teams pitch an innovative idea that addresses a critical need in the solar industry and identify market demand for it. Those selected to advance to the second phase will design a proof of concept.
In the third and final phase, selected individuals and teams will develop early-stage prototypes for industry testing. On December 4, 2020, 20 teams representing 12 states were selected to receive $50,000 and advance to the next phase of the competition. Their concepts are grouped into three categories: concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP), photovoltaics (PV), and systems integration.