SEPA: Imagine a new solar energy future
October 21, 2014 | By
Barbara Vergetis Lundin
In her opening speech at Solar Power International in Las Vegas this week, Julia Hamm asked attendees to Imagine a future in which solar energy and all the industry stakeholders -- from utilities to installers and manufacturers to customers -- were unhampered by existing regulatory and market structures, as well as the challenges and, at times, divisive debates they have created.
Hamm, president and CEO of the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA), threw out a challenge and invitation to the thousands of industry leaders to come up with their own ideas and visions of what this new market would look like and how it might work, forcing the audience to think about what it would be like if we could start over in a "hypothetical 51st state," building a fully diversified, integrated energy sector from the ground up. Stressing the need for ongoing industry innovation and collaboration, Hamm said that the 51st State Initiative will be a "test-bed that offers a new way to think about solar…and a resilient, reliable grid that powers the lights in this room and the phones in our pockets." The goal of the initiative is to share ideas that will open up "ways to make more effective progress in the crucial next few years," she said. For more: © 2014 FierceMarkets, a division of Questex Media Group LLC. All rights reserved. http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/sepa-imagine-new-solar-energy-future/2014-10-21 |