The American-Made Partnerships to Accelerate Training & Hiring for Geothermal Heat Pumps (GHP PATHs) Prize is a $3 million-dollar prize competition designed to hire, certify, and train the current and next generation of geothermal heat pump workers. Competitors leverage the American-Made Network, our innovation engine of more than 475 organizations, including world-class experts at the U.S. Department of Energy’s 17 national labs, clean tech accelerators, incubators, universities, facilities, and more.

The Geothermal Heat Pumps (GHP) PATHs Prize encourages the rapid development of partnerships and programs that scale the hiring and training of GHP workers in all communities. GHP PATHs Prize competitors participate in three contests – Connect, Engage, and Execute – to transform their ideas into reality in months, rather than years. Competitors have a chance to win part of $3 million to help them advance in the competition and accelerate the development of their solutions.

• Phase 1: Connect – Competitors submit a narrative describing their vision for building a sustainable pathway to training and hiring in their defined region. Up to 20 winning teams will receive $40,000 each in cash and will be eligible to compete in Phase 2.
• Phase 2: Engage – Competitors formalize commitments between engaged partners. Partnerships analyze the gaps and needs of the GHP workforce in their defined region and propose a workforce development program with a realistic training plan and hiring strategy. At the end of Phase 2, up to 8 winning teams will receive $150,000 each in cash and be eligible to compete in Phase 3.
• Phase 3: Execute – Competitors execute their proposed workforce development program and submit results including number of workers trained, new hires, and plan on sustainable long-term industry commitments. Winning teams will receive from $100,000 to $400,000.