Nation of Makers, American-Made Power Connector
Utilizing the diverse maker movement to foster innovation in the American energy sector through partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
Since 2018, Nation of Makers has been proud to partner with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), primarily providing support for the recruitment of diverse makers and innovators to the American-Made Solar Prize. Since 2020, we have expanded our role within the American-Made Challenges, as a Power Connector. In this role, Nation of Makers is helping to build capacity for and ensure the success of the American-Made Challenges, which are designed to incentivize the nation's entrepreneurs to reenergize innovation and reassert American leadership in the energy marketplace. Since 2020, our portfolio of engagement with the American-Made prizes has expanded from the American-Made Solar Prize, to the Geothermal Prize, which leverages
advances in Additive Manufacturing to develop new innovations in geothermal energy, the Buildings (E-ROBOT) Prize, which uses advances in robotics to improve energy efficiency in building retrofits, the Geothermal Collegiate Competition, which engages diverse collegiate innovators in the development of local geothermal energy solutions, and the Inclusive Energy Innovation Prize, which aims to fund organizations for ongoing and/or proposed activities related to climate and clean energy that support, build trust, and strengthen relationships and partnerships with disadvantaged communities. This includes business and technology incubation, acceleration, and other community-based and university-based entrepreneurship and innovation in climate and clean energy technologies.
Solar Energy Change Maker Program
Nation of Makers is partnering with NuTech, LLC on the Solar Energy Change Maker Program, a program designed to support collegiate solar innovators from minority-serving institutions in their applications to the American-Made Solar Prize Challenge.
The program walks applicants through the entire process, from team formation to application submission. Our hybrid webinar and working sessions can be joined online via Zoom or in-person in the Baltimore, MD area at NuTech’s STREAM Innovation Center.
The American-Made Solar Prize is a competition designed to energize U.S. solar innovation through a series of contests that accelerate the entrepreneurial process from years to months. To date, the Solar Prize has funded 120 teams with more than $15 million in prizes, helping spur countless connections between entrepreneurs and experts at the nation’s top test facilities, makerspaces, universities, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s national labs.
The prize offers a total of $4.1 million in cash and voucher prizes to teams of creative individuals and entrepreneurs who are ready to advance conceptual solar solutions toward product realities. Through three contests, participants compete for progressively larger prizes, including an optional justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion- (JEDI) focused prize that rewards efforts to lower barriers to solar adoption in underserved communities.
With the recent launch of Round 6, the competition is now seeking innovators, entrepreneurs, and those with an idea to revolutionize the solar industry to join the competition.
Energy Change Maker Program Recordings
Missed an Energy Change Maker Session? Click the “+” sign next to a session to listen to the recording.
And it’s not too late to join us - sign up using the buttons above!