Today the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced two new competitions with a combined prize pool of nearly $7 million to rapidly advance innovations in geothermal and clean hydrogen technologies and awarded $4.5 million to competitors advancing solar energy technology innovations. Announced at the virtual Earth Day celebration hosted by DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), these prizes are part of DOE’s American-Made Challenges program and are investments in our planet, enabling innovators to rapidly develop clean energy technologies that will make the U.S. grid more reliable and resilient.

Since the American-Made Challenges prize program launched in 2018 to support U.S. entrepreneurship and innovation in clean energy, DOE has awarded about $100 million in cash and incentives to competitors in more than 30 prizes spanning solar, water, geothermal, buildings, hydrogen, energy storage, transportation, technology transitions, manufacturing, and more.

“The American-Made program is designed to empower American ingenuity,” said Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm. “It offers financial support for innovators with big ideas that can move the global clean energy market and make a difference in the climate challenge. American-Made is a fast track to our clean energy economy—and all the new, good-paying, union jobs that will come with it.”