The emergence and explosive growth of the Solar Industry since the discovery of the photovoltaic effect has been nothing short of phenomenal.

How did it get here?
Where is it headed?
How do you get engaged in it?
What business opportunities are there?

If you are an entrepreneur looking for opportunities, or an executive from an adjacent space looking for expansion into solar or someone who wants to join an existing solar company or someone who wants to understand the basics of the industry; this event is for you!

Participate with and meet notable solar industry entrepreneurs and executives.

No prior knowledge of the industry is assumed and the insights you will gain may excite you into becoming engaged in this dynamic and growing renewable energy sector.

The 2009 Solar & Sustainability Science Fair is presented by PHC Northwest, host to the largest single-roof solar array in the Pacific Northwest. This FREE event challenges the minds of tomorrow and celebrates the people working towards a cleaner, more sustainable world today. It features “green” projects created by local students alongside exhibits from more than 35 solar and renewable energy organizations showcasing their latest programs and technologies. For more info visit http://www.phcnw.com/solar.

The idea of an intelligent electricity network is being promoted by many as a way of dealing with the increasing problems of global warming, energy independence and electric grid resilience. This so called “smart grid” will create opportunities for new technologies and businesses which will emerge to satisfy the demands for improved communications, smart appliances, distributed power generation, demand response, transportation electrification and many more applications.

To help entrepreneurs and innovators in the Portland area learn more about smart grid opportunities and collaborate with others the TiE Oregon is hosting an event with industry experts and capital providers who have an interest in growing smart grid businesses.

Panelists include:

• Bill Campbell Principal at Equilibrium Capital • Bobby Kandaswamy, Investment Director, Intel Capital • Jeff Hammarlund, Adjunct Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow at PSU's Mark O. Hatfield School of Government and the Executive Leadership Institute.

By attending this event you will hear about the policies shaping the smart grid movement, learn about various technology and application opportunities and meet others who are already working in the smart grid or have an idea that could turn into a new business.

Energy storage is increasingly perceived as a necessary and vital component of any future smart grid, yet meaningful energy storage is still a scarce and missing component.

Why is energy storage so important? - Energy storage helps solve the variability issues with renewable energy (solar and wind) generation, and as such will help balance the grid - Distributed energy storage located near the point of use will provide localized power, thereby decreasing the need to build new power plants and additional transmission lines. - Energy storage has been proclaimed by some as a "killer app" by utilizing batteries in parked electric vehicle (EV) fleets to feed stored energy back to the grid. Such Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) applications have promise to feed energy back to the grid for special purposes to benefit both the utility and the electric car owner. - Significant utility-scale storage capacity solves an even bigger issue, capturing and utilizing the massive amounts of electrical generating capacity that is otherwise typically unused.

The discussion will focus on: - Value chain elements of the energy storage industry - Who are local champions of energy storage - What are the interests of the investment community - What does the policy and regulatory framework look like - How do customers value energy storage - How is the smart grid expected to interact with energy storage

Join our panel on April 21st, to understand the technologies, trade-offs, market segments, future potential of energy storage.

Our 3 panelists are: - Dylan Steeg, Director Intel Capital, Intel's global venture capital organization. Dylan is responsible for several cleantech and semiconductor sectors, including photovoltaics, smart grid/demand response, datacenter energy efficiency, and semiconductor manufacturing

• Dan Nicollet, Co-founder, Supercritical Energy, a pioneer of Supercritical Fluid Technology applied to distributed energy generation and storage on the electric grid

• Marcus Wood , Partner and Chair of the Energy and Telecommunications (ENTEL) practice group Stoel Rives, . He focuses his practice on energy provider and energy facility developer clients.

The panel will be moderated by John Thornton, Founder, Clean Future, a consulting firm providing business and technical expertise at the convergence of energy, mobility, sustainability and the Smart Grid.

Since its inception in 1981, the Certified Energy Manager (CEM) credential has become widely accepted and used as a measure of professional accomplishment within the energy management field. It has gained industry-wide use as the standard for qualifying energy professionals both in the United States and abroad. It is recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Office of Federal Energy Management Programs (FEMP), and the U.S. Agency for International Development, as well as by numerous state energy offices, major utilities, corporations and energy service companies.

For more information please see the following link

http://www.aeecenter.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3351