Intersolar North America, the most attended solar industry exhibition and conference dedicated to the North American market, will showcase two exhibition pavilions at this year’s event that highlight innovative start-up and mid-stage companies. After a successful debut at last year’s event, the California Solar Energy Industries Association (CALSEIA) will once again host the California Pavilion, featuring member companies in the solar and storage industries. New to this year’s exhibition is the Powerhouse Pavilion, hosted by Powerhouse—the world’s first and only incubator and accelerator dedicated to solar. The Powerhouse Pavilion will highlight solar software, finance and storage startups.
In addition to showcasing products from established companies, Intersolar North America highlights groundbreaking products and services from start-up, early and mid-stage companies. As the first major solar industry event of the year in North America, Intersolar will unveil the next-generation products to help reduce costs, boost efficiency and drive the solar market forward. The event will feature more than 500 exhibitors and host an expected 18,000 visitors.
The CALSEIA California Pavilion, located on the first level of Moscone West, will allow attendees to connect with solar and energy storage companies from one of the country’s leading markets. The expanded pavilion will educate attendees on the latest trends shaping the California solar and energy storage economy, and offer access to CALSEIA representatives to learn more about the organization’s policy initiatives in the state and get involved.
“The companies exhibiting in the California Pavilion represent a cross section of CALSEIA’s member companies that are working together to ensure the continued growth of California’s solar industry,” said Kelsea Jones, membership and marketing director for CALSEIA. “From the diverse to the ingenious, and from the entrepreneurial to the enduring, California is the playing field where the new gets tested and the old gets perfected.”
The Powerhouse Pavilion, located on the second level, will feature both new and established solar software, financing and energy companies. As part of the California-based incubator’s activities at Intersolar North America, Powerhouse will host the Powerhouse Circle conference side event. During this “speed-dating” event, 25 investors and executives will meet 1:1 with 25 entrepreneurs and startups, granting each the opportunity to make valuable business connections.
"The best word to describe Powerhouse Circle is intense. Startup founders have 90 seconds to pitch and executives or investors have 90 seconds to respond. We put the 'speed' in speed dating,” said Emily Kirsh, Powerhouse co-founder and CEO. “This isn't a five-minute pitch on stage at demo day—this is a true elevator pitch. Powerhouse Circle gives everyone what they want. Startups get to meet with potential customers and investors and industry leaders and investors get to see months worth of deal flow in a couple hours. Everybody wins."
The Solar Foundation joins Intersolar North America exhibition for the first time this year. Known for its annual National Solar Jobs Census, the organization is dedicated to delivering analysis and actionable information to inform solar policy decisions across the country. Representatives from The Solar Foundation will discuss job creation within the solar industry and new programs to maintain, grow, develop, and train the solar workforce. Through a new initiative, The Solar Foundation will collaborate with Intersolar and CALSEIA to produce a white paper focused on the potential solar workforce opportunities and challenges that come with solar-plus-storage system configurations, which will be published and presented at this year’s event.
“America’s booming solar industry is now a major job creator and a key driver of economic growth,” said Andrea Luecke, president and executive director of The Solar Foundation. “We are excited to come to Intersolar and share our ongoing research on the rapid increase in solar jobs nationwide as well as our initiatives on workforce development and solar jobs training.”
The Intersolar North America exhibition will be held July 12 – 14 at the Moscone West Center in San Francisco and is co-located with both ees North America, the ideal platform to connect stakeholders in the rapidly growing energy storage market, and SEMICON West, the world’s marketplace for micro-electronics innovation. Registration for the exhibition and conference is available online. For a full listing of exhibition events, visit the online schedule.
In addition to visiting the exhibition floor, registrants for this year’s Conference will also be able to use this same registration to attend the American Solar Energy Society’s SOLAR 2016 and ees North America program tracks to get an unparalleled overview of the renewable energy industry worldwide.