Solar Data Bounty Prize to assist Commercial and Academic R&D Efforts

Deadline: 08/14/2023

Size of the Grant: $130,000

Details:

The American-Made Solar Data Bounty Prize is designed to incentivize photovoltaic (PV) system owners to share information-rich data sets from their assets so the industry and research communities can continue to develop, validate, and fine-tune modeling tools for solar applications. Owners of U.S.-based PV systems will be invited to submit their historical time series data with five or more years of operation at a minimum 15-minute time resolution.

Through this prize, PV asset owners will be incentivized to publicly share a subset of data from one of their U.S.-based PV systems. The data from the winning systems, subject to several optional anonymization features, will be made accessible to the public via the Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI) data lake and a supporting web-based interface. The ultimate goal of this effort is to assist commercial and academic R&D efforts seeking to improve the accuracy of PV system modeling, and thus lower the risk associated with developing and operating those PV assets.

Program Goal

Requirements Only submissions relevant to the goals of this program are eligible to compete. DOE will review all submissions to ensure that the following statements are true:

• The submitted data and metadata are procured from a solar PV system, which may include components such as energy meters, environmental sensors, inverters, combiners, etc.
• The submitted data and metadata are procured from a solar PV system installed in the United States and its territories.
• The registered competitor has the right to manage the disposition of the submitted data, including its dissemination from a public website, without a fee.
• The submitted data are consistent with the operation of real-world PV systems.

Funding Information

The Solar Data Bounty Prize offers a total prize pool of $1,415,000 in cash:

Stage 1 Winners

Track A (System size: 100–5,000 kWdc)

• Up to 15 cash prizes: $5,000
• Up to six cash prizes: $80,000

Track B (System size: >5,000 kWdc)

• Up to 10 cash prizes: $5,000
• Up to three cash prizes: $130,000

Stage  2 Runnersup

Track A (System size: 100–5,000 kWdc)

• Up to four cash prizes: $30,000
• Up to two cash awards in six installments: $40,000

Track B (System size: >5,000 kWdc)

• Up to two cash prizes: $50,000
• Up to two cash awards in six installments: $60,000

Eligibility Criteria

To compete in the Solar Data Bounty Prize, competitors must comply with the following eligibility requirements. By uploading an Intent To Compete submission package, a competitor certifies that they are in compliance with these eligibility requirements. Eligibility is subject to verification before prizes are awarded. As soon as the prize administrator becomes aware that a competitor is not eligible to win the prize, the competitor may be disqualified. The competitor is the legal entity that is registered to compete in HeroX by their representative.

• Private entities (for-profits and nonprofits) and nonfederal government entities (such as states, counties, tribes, municipalities, and academic institutions) are eligible to compete, subject to the following requirements:
  • Academic institutions must be based in the United States.
  • Private entities must be incorporated in and/or maintain a primary place of business in the United States with majority domestic ownership and control. This includes U.S.-based subsidiaries of entities incorporated in foreign countries.
• Individuals and teams of individuals are not eligible to compete.
• Submissions to the prize should only concern PV systems installed in the United States.
• Current DOE employees, current DOE support service contractors, individuals who have been employed by DOE, or individuals working for DOE as a support service contractor within six months prior to the submission deadline of this contest are not eligible to participate in this program.
• Non-DOE federal entities are not eligible to win any prize in this program.
• Federal grantees may not use federal funds to develop submissions.
• Federal contractors may not use federal funds from a contract to develop a prize competition submission or fund efforts in support of a prize competition submission.
• A participating entity shall not be deemed ineligible because the entity used federal facilities or consulted with federal employees during a competition if the facilities and employees are made available to all entities participating in the competition on an equitable basis.
• Evaluation entities are ineligible to compete as prize participants.
• Individuals participating in a foreign government talent recruitment program sponsored by a country of risk and teams that include such individuals are not eligible to compete.
• Entities owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a government of a country of risk are not eligible to compete.
• Entities and individuals publicly banned from doing business with the U.S. government, such as entities and individuals debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded from or ineligible for participating in federal programs, are not eligible to compete.
• DOE may conduct a review, using government resources, of the competitor and project personnel for foreign interference. The result of the risk review may result in the submission being deemed ineligible for the prize competition. This risk review, and potential determination of ineligibility, can occur at any time during the prize competition. The results of a risk review are not appealable.
• Only the Stage 1 winners will be eligible to compete and win cash awards in Stage 2 of the competition.

For more information, visit DOE.