The Energy Department on February 13 announced the 20 collegiate teams selected to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015 and unveiled the competition's location - €the Orange County Great Park, located between Los Angeles and San Diego, in Irvine, California. Orange County Great Park was the site of Solar Decathlon 2013 - €the first time the event was held outside of Washington, D.C. The 20 teams from colleges and universities across the country and the world will now begin the nearly two-year process of building solar-powered houses that are affordable, innovative and highly energy-efficient. Over the coming months, the Solar Decathlon teams will design, construct, and test their houses before reassembling them at the Solar Decathlon 2015 competition site in Irvine. As part of the Solar Decathlon, teams compete in 10 different contests - ranging from architecture and engineering to home appliance performance. In fall 2015, the student teams will showcase their solar-powered houses at the competition site, providing free public tours of renewable energy systems and energy-efficient technologies, products, and appliances that today are helping homeowners nationwide save money by saving energy. The solar-powered houses will represent a diverse range of design approaches; building technologies; target markets; and geographic locations, climates, and regions, including urban, suburban, and rural settings. The following teams have been selected to compete in Solar Decathlon 2015:

  • California Polytechnic State University
  • California State University, Sacramento
  • Clemson University (South Carolina)
  • Crowder College (Missouri) and Drury University (Missouri)
  • Lansing Community College and Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University (Michigan)
  • Missouri University of Science and Technology
  • New York City College of Technology
  • Oregon Institute of Technology and Portland State University
  • Stanford University (California)
  • State University of New York at Alfred College of Technology and Alfred University
  • Stevens Institute of Technology (New Jersey)
  • University of Florida, National University of Singapore, and Santa Fe College (Florida)
  • The University of Texas at Austin and Technische Universitaet Muenchen (Germany)
  • University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
  • University of California, Davis
  • University of California, Irvine; Saddleback College; Chapman University; and Irvine Valley College.
  • Vanderbilt University and Middle Tennessee State University
  • West Virginia University and University of Roma Tor Vergata (Italy)
  • Western New England University, Universidad Tecnologica de Panama, and Universidad Tecnologica Centroamericana (Honduras)
  • Yale University (Connecticut)

See the Solar Decathlon website.