Build Your Team! Solar Decathlon 2023 Design Challenge Opens Registration

Students participating in the 2022 Design Challenge and 2023 Build Challenge pose on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory campus during the Solar Decathlon 2022 Competition Event, April 22–24, 2022.

Want to design a zero-energy building while still in school? Register now and form a 2023 Design Challenge team to develop sustainable building expertise and tackle real-world problems through the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon® collegiate competition. 

As part of the Solar Decathlon 2023 Design Challenge, top collegiate students from across the globe compete to design sustainable, high-performance buildings powered by renewables. 

“Buildings account for 35% of the nation’s emissions, but they don’t have to,” said Holly Jamesen Carr, director of the Solar Decathlon in the Building Technologies Office. “To change that, we need to revolutionize the ways we design, build, operate, and renovate buildings, and the Solar Decathlon provides collegiate students with an unrivaled opportunity to do just that.” 

To be a part of the 2023 Design Challenge, register today, gather your multidisciplinary collegiate team, and start your project! Team registrations close on October 26, 2022, at 5 p.m. ET. The 2023 Design Challenge rules are now available and provide details for each of the 10 contests that make up the Decathlon. Teams can participate in any of the following divisions: 

Residential

• New Housing

• Retrofit Housing

• Attached Housing

Commercial

• Multifamily Building

• Office Building

• Education Building.

Collegiate institutions can have multiple teams (but only one team per division) and can partner with other schools. 

2023 Design Challenge Timeline:

• July 2022: Solar Decathlon Design Challenge Rules are released, and teams may begin work.

• October 26, 2022: All teams must register by this date to participate.

• Fall/winter 2022: Initial deliverables due.

• February 2023: Virtual Semifinal Competition Event for teams to showcase their preliminary designs to earn one of 10 finalist spots in each division.

• April 2023: Finalist Teams present to industry leaders virtually or at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado; awards are presented to winners.

Interested in going beyond design by constructing a zero-energy house during your undergraduate or graduate studies? The Solar Decathlon Build Challenge will reopen for applications in July 2023. The Build Challenge typically runs for two years and culminates with teams presenting zero-energy houses constructed in their communities. Interested teams are encouraged to participate in the 2023 Design Challenge to gain experience and prepare their design. Finalist teams in the current Build Challenge cycle have completed their designs and are now starting construction, exhibiting their groundbreaking houses in local communities across the world in April 2023.