Caught the red-eye back from San Francisco last night so I’m tired. But I’m also still on a high from Intersolar North America 2012. It was absolutely exhilarating to see so many friends and meet with so many people in this wonderful industry of ours.
I always learn mountains of information at these shows, and this one was no different. Our team worked this show floor harder than any I have ever worked with in nearly 17 years as a trade journalist — and it was completely worth it.
Usually by the final day of any trade show (and those of you trade show veterans out there know what I’m talking about), meetings and show traffic tend to slide. But it didn’t seem to do that yesterday (at least my schedule didn’t let up). Here is what I learned yesterday:
- It was a pleasure to meet Raj Prabhu of Mercom Capital Group. Mercom produces in-depth reports on the financial state of the solar industry every quarter, and they have some interesting numbers. They have some amazing expansion plans, and I’ll be looking forward to seeing how they capitalize on their growing popularity.
- Thanks for all your time, Gordon Tredger, Mike Dooley and my good friend Jessi Lord from Advanced Energy. In case you hadn’t heard — and you must have been living under a rock if you haven’t — they are sponsoring (and speaking) at a webinar next Wednesday on how to specify utility-scale inverters. Don’t miss out — register today.
- We had great neighbors in our booth space. The people of SolarTech are helping solar installers learn how to do the business of solar. This is an increasingly important subject, and I look forward to talking with them further to explore this issue and bring you the information you need to know.
- David Levine, CEO of Geostellar, told me about his ambitious plans to create a pinpoint accurate tool for consumers to evaluate whether their home is a good fit for a solar system. Ambitious? Yes — but it could revolutionize the way the solar industry does business if he succeeds.
- Nice to meet you, Junard. I’ll be in touch.
- Also you, Matt. I think this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
- As our magazine is on the rise, we’re on the lookout for companies following similar paths. Chris, we’re pretty sure you’re one. Your technology is fascinating, and we look forward to working with you.
- We’ve been following GreenVolts since January and they’ll be featured in our August issue, so pay attention to them. Thanks to David and Gerald (and let me give a shout-out to Bob Stojanovic of ABB for working with this innovative company. We appreciate your support of them.)
- And I would also be remiss if I didn’t thank Ron for introducing me to his company’s cofounders, Stuart and Claudia Wentworth (CTO and CEO respectively of Quick Mount PV). And thanks for the dinner at The Green Papaya (phenomenal food and wonderful company). Here’s to many more such occasions.
- Lastly, I would like to publicly thank Steven Bushong, Solar Power World‘s editorial intern, who attended his first tradeshow ever. He performed with grace and aplomb and received rave reviews from everyone he came into contact with. Thanks, Steven.
I love my team, and it was a pleasure to work with them at Intersolar (Kathie, Scott, Todd, Tom, Courtney, Makaley and Chelsea, you all performed wonderfully. Thanks for your great work, as always).
With Solar Power International 2012 a mere seven weeks away, it’s time to get started looking forward to that show. I’m really looking forward to seeing all of you in Orlando. See you soon on the road.
