What is the maximum and minimum number of students allowed in a team?

The maximum number is fifteen, the minimum number is five.

What is the multidisciplinary requirement for a team?

A team must have at least one student with architecture and one with an engineering background. Past participants have said that more than one architecture and more than one engineering students make up a more effective team.

We are not sure of all our team members yet. Can we still register?

Yes, to register for the competition you only need a student team leader and a faculty mentor. All other team members can be added or changed later.

Can one educational institution have multiple teams?

Yes. However, each team needs to be multidisciplinary, with at least one student with a background in architecture/building science and one in engineering.

Can one educational institution team up with other educational institutions to form a team?

Yes. Students from more than one Indian educational institution can collaborate to form a team. However, one of those must be nominated as a Lead Institution, who will be the only point of contact with the Solar Decathlon India Secretariat. If students from multiple institutions collaborate to form a team, it may be helpful to have one faculty member from each of the partner institutions involved as faculty advisors.

Can non-architecture or civil engineering educational institutions participate?

Yes. A team may be composed of undergraduate or postgraduate students enrolled in any discipline from any Indian educational institution. Each team needs to be multidisciplinary, with at least one student with a background in architecture/building science and one in engineering.

What is the registration fee for Solar Decathlon India?

The registration fee for the 2023-2024 Solar Decathlon India is the non-refundable amount of INR 6,000 (Indian Rupees Six Thousand only) per team.

I cannot find the city where my institution is located in the dropdown list in the registration portal. What should I do?

Select the closest city from the dropdown list. In the street address field, you can mention the actual city name.

Is it mandatory to have a developer/client as a partner?

Each team must have a Project Partner, who can be a building owner, developer, or a real estate proponent of any type, including a government agency, NGO, or a private entity who is considering a building project. The team works on the building project provided to the team by the Project Partner.

We have found an architecture/ engineering/ consulting firm who is willing to give us their project. Can they be our Project Partner? 

The Project Partner must be a real estate proponent that intends to invest in the building. Architecture/ engineering/ consulting firms can be Project Partners only if they are building the project as owners or investors.

What if we are not able to find a developer/ client to partner with?

If you are not able to find a developer/ client as a Project Partner, the Solar Decathlon India organisers will assign you a Project and a Project Partner. However, if you find your own Project Partner, you are likely to have a better relationship with the partner and you are likely to have access to better information about the project.

Does the Project Partner (developer/client) have to commit to building or funding the proposal?

A Project Partner is not required to commit to building the design or provide any funding to the team. See the Project Partners section on the website for more details about the Project Partner’s commitments.

Are the 10 contests evaluated with equal weightage?

Yes. Each contest is given equal weightage in the scoring.

How is the winning proposal judged?

In Solar Decathlon India, teams are scored on all 10 contests by a jury of experts. They are scored on their work which includes the submitted documentation and the presentation to the jury.

Who is the jury?

The student entries will be judged by a jury panel of experts with profound experience in implementing net-zero building for design, construction, and real estate. The names of the jury members will be published during the 2nd stage of the competition. Check out our jury from the past challenges.

Will there be an exhibition or publication of all proposals at the end?

All finalist entries will be displayed on our website. Check out the entries from the finals in 2021, 2022, and 2023. If government restrictions due to the pandemic are not an issue, there will be an exhibition of all finalist entries during the SDI Finals in May, and the work of selected teams will be exhibited.