The Department of Energy is changing the name of the Solar Decathlon, rebranding the long-standing student competition so it is more broadly focused on building innovation, according to an internal email viewed by POLITICO’s E&E News.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory sent a message to decathlon participants last week saying the name of the event is now the “BuildingsNEXT Student Design competition.” It will still be held starting on April 25 at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, according to the email, but will not be a competition this year with first place designations. Instead, the event will be a “showcase” with chosen “honorable mentions,” NREL said.
“Additional materials related to this name change, including updated templates, will be shared with teams soon,” the email states. “We look forward to highlighting the passion, creativity, and dedication that teams have invested in their design projects.”
First held in 2002, the Solar Decathlon charges college teams with designing and building low-carbon buildings. The build competition, where students construct small homes showcasing renewable energy, initially was held on the National Mall every two years until 2009, when it moved to several other venues, including in California.
The design portion is an annual event and most recently was held last year at NREL. Winners in the past were chosen based on how they performed in categories such as “engineering” and “durability” of built houses.
NREL and DOE did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but President Donald Trump has been critical of solar power, claiming it takes up too much land. Energy Secretary Chris Wright also has been critical of the intermittent nature of renewables, although he spoke favorably of solar and grid batteries at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy summit this month.
Dorothy Gerring, an associate professor of architecture who is leading a student team at the Pennsylvania College of Technology, said she didn’t know why the event was rebranded.
“This is how they figured they could resurrect it and keep it going instead of having it completely axed,” she said, adding her views are as a private citizen and not on behalf of her college.
Frank Wickstead, an adjunct professor in the School of Building Construction at Georgia Institute of Technology, said there were discussions about changing the event’s name before Trump took office, but he said he was disappointed that the words “renewables,” “resilience” or “low-carbon” are not in the new title.
“Let’s see how they market it,” he said, adding it’s unclear how the event will look in the future. Like Gerring, Wickstead is working with college teams on the event.
Gerring started a petition last month warning of a potential cancellation after the event’s semifinals were not held in February. There were discussions between professors and the private sector to host the decathlon prior to NREL’s email, she said.
She said her student team was planning to attend in April but was disappointed it was no longer a competition. In the email, NREL said that all student teams that registered in October are invited but must register again by April 4.
Solar and storage together are projected to constitute more than 80 percent of new electricity added to the U.S. grid this year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
As of Sunday, DOE’s website still included a webpage highlighting the winners of past events of the Solar Decathlon without any announced name change.
