The American-Made Sunny Awards for Equitable Community Solar (The Sunny Awards) is a prize competition that recognizes community solar projects and programs that employ or develop best practices to increase equitable access to the meaningful benefits of community solar for subscribers and their communities.
Community solar is any solar project or purchasing program in which the benefits of a solar project flow to multiple customers such as individuals, businesses, nonprofits, and other groups, within a certain geographic area. Community solar projects and programs can vary significantly in their structure, implementation, and benefits they provide. The best practices of projects and programs recognized by the Sunny Awards will provide a blueprint for community solar developers, state energy offices, utilities, and others to help achieve the National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP) target to power the equivalent of five million households with community solar by 2025, generating $1 billion in electricity bill savings and providing other meaningful benefits.
Prize History
The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) launched the inaugural Sunny Awards prize competition in 2022. Competitors submitted a narrative and supporting evidence verifying that their community solar projects or programs provide meaningful benefits to subscribers and their communities. NCSP recognized more than 30 community solar projects and programs for the best practices they developed to provide meaningful benefits, including: low- to moderate-income household access, greater household savings, increased resilience, community ownership, and equitable workforce development and entrepreneurship.
NCSP launched the 2023 Sunny Awards on April 20, 2023. Learn more about the 2023 round.
Learn More
- Register to compete in The Sunny Awards.
- For questions about The Sunny Awards, email sunnyawards@nrel.gov.
- Read the Community Solar Best Practices Guide: Developing Projects with Meaningful Benefits
- Learn about the National Community Solar Partnership.
- Browse SETO’s other prizes and challenges.
- Browse SETO’s open funding opportunities.
The Sunny Awards for Equitable Community Solar is a part of the American-Made Challenges and is administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.