From the Power-gen Renewable Energy show to WIREC 2008

This year the number of events in the renewable energy industry in the US seem to have exploded; sometimes, it feels like one could be attending one seminar, convention or gathering of some kind every week of the year.

Even though we do not have the time or means for such feats, this is a busy period for us regarding shows, as we attended last Power-Gen Renewable Energy show at Las Vegas (booth 108) and will be present again next week at WIREC 2008, the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference.

The former changed venue this year, from Mandalay Bay hotel to Rio. Next year´s edition will also bring changes, as it will now be known as Renewable Energy World Conference & Expo. Our very own Brian Gaylord was interviewed for the Inside RE show podcast with Stephen Lacey from Renewable Energy World. His is the last interview in the program.

It was a momentous week, with an announcement from Abengoa Solar about its new huge plant in Arizona on the last day of the show and the Nevada Solar One solar plant dedication ceremony by Acciona, on Friday 22nd, with Apple founder Steve Wozniak and former NASA astronaut Dr. Sally Ride among the guests.

I do not know if anything that exciting will happen next week at WIREC, but I will be there to let you know if it does. We are going to have a little booth (#536) at the show and will be attending every conference of interest about market developments in the US.

WIREC has a institutional side, with Ministerial meetings between Government delegations from all over the world and a business side, the Trade Show and business conferences.

I will be focusing on the latter. Even though listening to Vinod Khosla talking about the transition to renewables in the first plenary session would undoubtely have been great, there are only so many hours a day. I still might give it a try, the temptation is too great.