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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) is funding the American-Made Solar Data Bounty Prize, a two-stage, $1.4 million prize designed to increase the accessibility of high-quality time series datasets for photovoltaic (PV) systems. These types of datasets can be used to build, train, and optimize models designed for PV system simulation, which can in turn provide more accurate performance estimates and better system designs. Improving the accuracy of PV system modeling lowers the risk of developing and operating those assets, which can attract more capital for deployment of PV power plants.
The Solar Data Bounty Prize shares a common goal with the PV Fleet Performance Data Initiative, incentivizing PV system owners to share their datasets so researchers can continue to develop and fine-tune modeling tools for solar applications.
The Prize invites owners of PV systems to submit at least five years of historical time series data at a minimum of 15-minute time resolution for one or two of their systems. On September 29, 2023 SETO announced the seven datasets that won Stage 1 of the Solar Data Bounty Prize, each receiving $5,000 and advancing to Stage 2 of the prize program. On January 9, 2024 SETO announced the five datasets that won the second and final stage of the prize. Two competitors were awarded grand prizes and three were awarded runner-up prizes. The grand prize winner for large PV systems won $130,000 while the winner for medium-size system won $80,000. Runner-up prizes were $30,000 each for medium systems and $50,000 for large systems. 
These datasets are available from the Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI), a centralized repository of energy research data aggregated from DOE’s Programs, Offices, and National Laboratories. SETO and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory hosted a three-part, virtual series on how to access and utilize the data obtained through the prize:
The American-Made Solar Data Bounty Prize was open to U.S.-based PV system owners and entities authorized to share data from PV systems. These owners were invited to submit at least five years of historical time series data at a minimum of 15-minute time resolution for one or two of their systems. Submissions will be scored using a rubric to reflect data quality and quantity. Datasets collected through this prize are meant to assist commercial and academic research and development efforts seeking to improve the accuracy of PV system modeling, and thus lower the risk associated with developing and operating those assets.
The competition is comprised of two stages:
The winning datasets and respective metadata will be shared on a publicly accessible database, so that researchers and other solar stakeholders can use it for model development, validation, and evaluation. Bonus prizes totaling up to $200,000 will be offered to four prize winners who agree to update their datasets with new data on an annual basis for the next six years.
Track A: Medium-sized Systems 
Track B: Large-sized Systems
The listed locations correspond to the headquarters of the winning entities and not necessarily the PV systems.
Grand Prize Winners
Runner-Up Winners
The American-Made Solar Data Bounty Prize is a part of the American-Made Challenges and is administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
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