The Orange County Great Park, located between Los Angeles and San Diego, can accommodate the 20 competition houses and the special needs of the Solar Decathlon event.

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced Jan. 26 the 20 collegiate teams selected to compete in the DOE’s Solar Decathlon 2013 and unveiled the competition’s location, the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, Calif. Since 2002, the National Mall in Washington has been the venue for five successful Solar Decathlons. For 2013, Solar Decathlon organizers decided to extend the competition’s reach beyond Washington and showcase energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies to a new group of visitors and sponsors.

The Orange County Great Park, located between Los Angeles and San Diego, is a dynamic venue that can accommodate the 20 competition houses and the special needs of the Solar Decathlon event - flexible space, ample visitor parking, existing facilities for large special events and nearby services for visitors. With direct freeway and rail access and generally favorable weather conditions, the park also will ensure that residents across Southern California have an opportunity to experience the Solar Decathlon.

The 20 teams from colleges and universities across the United States and from around the world will now begin a two-year process to build solar-powered, highly energy-efficient homes that combine affordability, consumer appeal and design excellence - highlighting renewable energy systems and energy-efficient technologies, products and appliances that are already available to homeowners. Throughout the two-year process, the teams will design, construct and test their homes before reassembling them at the Solar Decathlon 2013 competition site.

The following teams have been selected to compete in Solar Decathlon 2013:

• Arizona State University and the University of New Mexico (Tempe, Ariz., and Albuquerque, N.M.)


• Czech Technical University (Prague, Czech Republic)


• Hampton University and Old Dominion University (Hampton and Norfolk, Va.)


• Middlebury College (Middlebury, Vt.)


• Missouri University of Science and Technology (Rolla, Mo.)


• Norwich University (Northfield, Vt.)


• Queens University, Carleton University and Algonquin College (Kingston and Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)


• Santa Clara University (Santa Clara, Calif.)


• Southern California Institute of Architecture and California Institute of Technology (Los Angeles)


• Stanford University (Palo Alto, Calif.)


• Stevens Institute of Technology (Hoboken, N.J.)


• The Catholic University of America, George Washington University and American University (Washington)


• The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Charlotte, N.C.)


• The University of Texas at El Paso and El Paso Community College (El Paso, Texas)


• University of Calgary (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)


• University of Louisville, Ball State University and University of Kentucky (Louisville, Ky.; Muncie, Ind.; and Lexington, Ky.)


• University of Nevada Las Vegas (Las Vegas)


• University of Southern California (Los Angeles)


• Vienna University of Technology (Vienna, Austria)


• West Virginia University (Morgantown, W. Va.)

Follow the progress of Solar Decathlon 2013 on Facebook and Twitter.

For a recap of the 2011 Solar Decathlon, click here.