Available Funding Schemes for Current CSP Research
The American-Made Heliostat Prize is a groundbreaking initiative, with a fund of $3 million, intended to propel technological evolution in the field of heliostats. The competition aims to inspire the conception, progression, and practical demonstration of key heliostat components. Heliostats, defined as apparatuses that manipulate mirrors to track the sun and bounce sunlight toward a receiver, lie at the core of this competition.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) spearheads this endeavor, with the primary objective being the reduction in cost and enhancement in the performance and reliability of heliostats. This is hoped to be achieved through the development of innovative components, including but not limited to, heliostat support structures, mirror facets, and wireless control mechanisms. The larger picture entails making heliostats more affordable, thereby contributing to the aim of reaching a completely decarbonized energy sector by the year 2035, and a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. This broader vision involves the deployment of flexible, dispatchable generation and energy storage technologies, like Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power (CSP) coupled with thermal energy storage, and high-temperature process heat.
The Heliostat Prize provides a platform for building upon the existing research by the Heliostat Consortium and aligns with the DOE’s roadmap to boost the manufacturing and utilization of heliostats across the United States.
The competition invites a diverse range of participants, including individuals, private sector corporations, and nonfederal government entities, like states, tribes, municipalities, counties, and academic institutions. The competition urges participants to form multidisciplinary teams to enrich their technological concepts.
The contest prompts participants to foster innovations from the initial ideation to the final prototype within an expedited timeframe of just under 18 months, engaging in progressive challenges throughout.
The competition is divided into three progressive stages: Phase 1, referred to as the “Concept” phase, aims to inspire the creation of teams with robust concepts for technology aiding in the advancement of heliostat technologies. Phase 2, labeled as the “Design” phase, involves the design and modeling of the components birthed during Phase 1. Lastly, Phase 3, the “Assess” phase, necessitates the construction of prototypes, preliminary testing of Phase 2 components, and finalization of the design.
This prize competition presents a total cash prize of $3 million for outstanding innovations and robust concepts that aid in the advancement of heliostat technologies, with up to three winners. Participants can win up to $580,000 in cash throughout the three phases of the competition.
The timeline for the competition is as follows: The DOE announced the prize on April 25, 2023. The “Concept” Phase 1 began on June 1, 2023, with submissions due by Aug. 31, 2023, and semifinalists will be declared in October 2023. The “Design” Phase 2 will commence in November 2023, with finalists to be announced in March 2024. The “Assess” Phase 3 will begin in April 2024, and the winners will be proclaimed in October 2024.
