Competitors are defined as individual entities (private, public, nonprofit, community-based, etc.) that are new solar project developers, co-developers, or existing developers.
Competitors must be expanding operations and have concrete plans to develop a portfolio of equitable distributed solar projects that deliver equitable access and consumer protections and meaningful household savings.
The American-Made Community Power Accelerator Prize: Accessing Capital to Deploy Equitable Community Solar is a $10 million prize designed to fast-track the efforts of new, emerging, and expanding solar developers and co-developers to learn, participate, and grow their operations to support multiple successful community solar projects. The goal of this prize is to expand a robust ecosystem of community solar project developers that incorporate meaningful benefits into projects across the United States. In 2024, Round 3 of the Community Power Accelerator Prize expanded beyond community solar to include other forms of distributed solar energy technologies.
The prize is part of the Community Power AcceleratorTM, an initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Community Solar Partnership+ (NCSP+) that connects developers, investors, philanthropists, and community-based organizations to get more equitable solar projects financed and deployed. The Accelerator provides training, technical assistance, and an online platform to support the critical connections necessary to finance and expand access to affordable distributed solar.
There are three phases to this contest: to advance, applicants must win the previous phase.