Intersolar North America, the premier solar industry exhibition and conference in North America for solar professionals to exchange information and develop business opportunities in the U.S. solar market, successfully closed of three full days of cutting edge products and innovations of leading industry companies from the United States and abroad. Solar experts from around the world traveled to San Francisco to visit the exhibits; connect with solar professionals; and attend and present in the conference, specialized workshops and seminars during Intersolar North America’s fourth and largest annual exhibition and conference. This year, the show touted around 20,000 visitors and 834 exhibiting solar companies from around the world with the co-located SEMICON West. Intersolar North America provided a spotlight on issues in North American market while presenting it within the global context.

This year was witness to impressive growth at Intersolar North America 2011 with exhibitors specific to Intersolar growing 17%, while Intersolar’s overall exhibit space grew to 170,000 net square feet--a 30% growth over 2010. Since its inauguration in 2008, Intersolar’s exhibition and conference has experienced tremendous growth in all areas, even more impressive when considering this growth was achieved during difficult market conditions brought on by the financial recession. About 20,000 verified visitors filled their days with exciting exhibits across all three levels of Moscone West and parts of Moscone North, conference tracks and panel sessions, among other activities. Numerous product announcements from exhibitors were also debuted. Intersolar North America makes a full list of exhibitor press releases available.

The U.S. market saw impressive growth in 2010--according to the U.S. Solar Market Trends 2010 report by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), the capacity of photovoltaic installations completed in 2010 doubled reaching 981 MW compared to the capacity installed in 2009─and the industry is focused on maintaining impressive growth throughout 2011 with many experts fore-casting that the market will again double in 2011. Over 200 speakers are presenting across more than 30 sessions at the conference covering hot topics in the solar industry from policy to energy storage to permitting, as well as the latest in photovoltaic and solar thermal technologies, all with a focus on how to grow and accelerate the North American solar market. 

The official conference opening in the InterContinental Hotel features San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee, who will make the welcome remarks ahead of a distinguished panel of speakers.

A packed room was filled up for the Joint Forces for Solar, 3rd PV Briefing & Networking Forum. This session brought together local firms and installers with global players to enhance communication both up and down stream. A particular focus was paid to California PV market and its influence in shaping national policy. The forum consisted of panel presentations followed by an open discussion with presenters from Bosch Solar Energy, Q-Cells, REC, AEE Solar and CALSEIA.

The most dominant themes of the conference were policy and markets as well as technological advancements. A continued sense of growth and learning emerged from the four-day conferences at the InterContinental Hotel. ‘PV Power Plants--Technology, Project Development & Financing’ focused on deployed technologies and highlighted their management and quality control during the project development phase.

As hosts of Intersolar North America, the city of San Francisco was involved in a number of events including a San Francisco Solar Bus Tour, where participants of the four-hour exploration of the citys finest solar arrays walked away with an intimate grasp and fresh appreciation of the green print of San Francisco. Additionally, one of the many announcements made at Intersolar came from the City of San Francisco announcing the launch of Solar@Work, a new model for small businesses and solar affordability. Throughout the week, the Job & Career Forum was bustling. Companies searching for top talent and qualified candidates networked directly on the exhibition floor within U.S. and international solar job markets.

For more information, please send your e-mails to pved@infothe.com.

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