Press

Solar Power International (SPI) and Energy Storage International (ESI) returned to the Anaheim Convention Center on September 24-27 with 19,000 attendees and 700 exhibiting companies for North America Smart Energy Week. Alongside SPI and ESI, this year there were three highly regarded industry events — Smart Energy Microgrid Marketplace, Hydrogen + Fuel Cells NORTH AMERICA, and The Technical Symposium.

The co-located SPI & ESI events have helped connect a wide range of energy industry professionals. Despite a heavy focus on solar power at the event, nearly 60% of attendees indicated an interest in energy storage. Participants were also eager to explore the full range of smart energy solutions that included microgrids, distributed wind resources, hydrogen & fuel cells, and geothermal resources.

“As the energy landscape continues to evolve, it’s great to see new businesses engaged in our show,” said Stephen Miner, President & CEO, Solar Energy Trade Shows. “Each year, more people realize SPI & ESI is the central trade show for energy innovation. It’s the home for smart energy and the addition and expansion of ESI, Hydrogen + Fuel Cells NORTH AMERICA, and the Smart Energy Microgrid Marketplace means that developers, installers, and those engaged with distributed energy resources take a second look at the energy applications on display.”

The education portion of SPI & ESI 2018 kicked off with pre-conference workshops, followed by welcoming remarks from Julia Hamm, President & CEO, Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) and Abby Hopper, President & CEO, Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). In addition to the annual “state of the industry” conversation, SEPA announced their top five priorities over the next year—regulatory innovation, distributed energy resource (DER) integration, resilience, electrification of transportation, and collaboration with utilities. SEIA’s Abby Hopper highlighted how increasing workforce diversity will bring economic benefits to individual companies and across the industry.

The full week-long agenda consisted of five session tracks, five exhibit hall education stages, and three general sessions open to all attendees that featured Gil. C. Quiniones, President & CEO, New York Power Authority; Omar Johnson, former CMO at Beats by Dre and Former Vice President of Marketing at Apple; Jen Psaki, former White House Communications Director, CNN Contributor; Matt K. Lewis, Senior Columnist, The Daily Beast; and the Honorable Sharon Burke, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy, Department of Defense, and more.

One unifying moment was when a Puerto Rican survivor of Hurricane Maria took the main stage.

“When you’re in the dark, the thing you want most is light,” said Salvador Gómez-Colón, the fifteen-year-old Founder of Light and Hope for Puerto Rico. On Tuesday morning, he delivered a keynote address that highlighted his crowd-sourced program which provided solar lamps to more than 3,000 families left without power after the hurricane.

The Expo was once again brimming with exciting companies, products, networking events, and demonstrations. ESI was bigger than ever, hosting over 250 exhibiting companies alone, making it the largest energy storage event in North America. Adjacent to energy storage footprint was the Smart Energy Microgrid Marketplace, complete with a fully-functioning live microgrid that powered 50 booths. Hydrogen + Fuel Cells NORTH AMERICA also had a larger presence, with its own education stage. Toyota displayed a suite of hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles and attendees were able test drive fuel cell vehicles provided by Honda, Hyundai, and Toyota during the outdoor “Ride & Drive.”

Earlier this year, SPI was named one of Trade Show Executive’s 100 largest trade shows for the ninth year in a row after a successful 2017. In addition, at their Gold 100 Awards & Summit that ran from October 10-12 in Dana Point, California, SPI was honored with four Grand Awards nominations.

In 2019, for the first time SPI and ESI will head to Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on September 23-26. You can learn more about SPI & ESI at www.solarpowerinternational.com

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About Solar Power International
Solar Power International (SPI) generates success for solar energy professionals and the global solar industry. SPI sets the standard for solar events as the fastest growing and largest solar show in North America as recognized by Trade Show Executive and Trade Show News Network. SPI has also been among the Gold 100 for eight years running and named “Stickiest Show Floor” by Trade Show Executive for the innovative ways in which attendees stay engaged and most recently, “Best Use of Technology” for the Smart Energy Microgrid Marketplace. With 700 exhibiting companies and 19,000 attendees, SPI is the largest solar exhibition in North America.

About Energy Storage International
Energy Storage International, co-located with Solar Power International, paves the way for greater integration between the energy storage and solar markets. As the largest energy storage event in North America, ESI features over 250 exhibitors and over 11,000 attendees interest in energy storage technology, and three full days of education investigating policy advances, market forecasts, new technology and applications as well as additional relevant, timely industry-developed content designed to grow the storage market.

About SEIA
Solar Energy Industries Association® is the national trade association of the U.S. solar energy industry, which now employs more than 260,000 Americans. Through advocacy and education, SEIA® is building a strong solar industry to power America.  SEIA works with its 1,000 member companies to build jobs and diversity, champion the use of cost-competitive solar in America, remove market barriers and educate the public on the benefits of solar energy.

For more information, visit www.seia.org.

About SEPA
The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to working with electric power stakeholders through the most pressing issues affecting the growth and utilization of smart energy. We are a trusted platform for education, research, standards, and collaboration to help utilities, customers, and other players deploy and integrate solar, storage, demand response and other distributed energy resources. Through educational activities, working groups, peer-to-peer opportunities and advisory services, SEPA engages interested parties in facilitating necessary information exchange and knowledge transfer to offer the highest amount of value for our membership and partner organizations.

For more information, visit www.sepapower.org.

Available Media

Event images: 2018 Highlights
Solar Power International Logo: SPI Logo
Energy Storage International Logo: ESI Logo
SEIA Logo File: SEIA Logo
SEPA Logo File: SEPA Logo

Contact Person:
Gregory Brey, Manager, Digital Marketing, Solar Power Events
Tel.: +1 703-738-9484 E-Mail: gbrey@sets.solar
Web: www.solarpowerinternational.com