AltEnToday

Last week I got the great opportunity to work with the American Solar Energy Society at the Intersolar conference and expo at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. This event was truly my first experience with the solar industry, and I learned a great deal about the industry and the people involved - as well as of course getting the chance to help support ASES.

The Intersolar show was actually a “show-within-a-show” of the SemiCon West show, which took up the entire enormous Moscone center. Intersolar filled only the 3rd floor of Moscone West, but even then it was a considerable experience, featuring a wide variety of solar products and solutions from around the world. The most dominant showing was from German manufacturers - including a huge selection of solar thermal and unique photovoltaic equipment. Since this was the first Intersolar show in the United States, ASES director Bradley Collins remarked that he wasn’t surprised that many of the US-based solar providers weren’t represented; but that he expected to see them next year once the success of this show was fully realized.

While working at the ASES booth, I had the opportunity to help hand out several thousand copies of Solar Today, the bi-monthly publication of ASES. Perhaps more intriguing was the difference between the Intersolar floor of the show and the rest of the semiconductor industry. I was also pleased to get the chance to meet several more folks at the XYZ bar in the W Hotel on Wednesday evening. They remarked almost uniformly that the excitement level at Intersolar was very high, and that Californians by and large are ready to move towards solar and renewables - especially as the technology improves and the economics reach parity versus petroleum and carbon-based fuels.

Overall, I had a great time at the Intersolar show. Next year will hopefully feature more American-based companies as they learn of the tremendous opportunity to reach all members of the supply chain, as well as a global-market perspective that may not be available at other shows.