EEMI Director for Sustainable Energy, Professor Scott Sklar, served as the General Chairman of SOLAR 2024, the annual national conference of the American Solar Energy Society. The event, attended by some 500 in-person participants in addition to many virtual participants, was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Student Center on GW’s main Foggy Bottom campus on May 20-23, 2024.
Given that it was held during a presidential election year, SOLAR 2024 emphasized community and network-building opportunities focusing on advocacy and education needed to expand upon best practices and new ideas for implementing a quicker energy transition.
Leaders converged from government, industry, trade, academia and the community come to exchange state-of-the-art ideas. One important government speaker was the Honorable Alex Beehler, former Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment, and current EEMI Director of Innovative Energy Strategies.
Other speakers included Rana Adib, Executive Director of REN21, Tom Weirich, Lead – Marketing & Stakeholder Relations North America EDP Renewables North America LLC, Yueming (Lucy) Qiu, Professor at the University of Maryland at College Park, and Colin Silver, Senior Vice President of Content & Strategy Solar Energy Industries Association. Those speakers focused on the economic benefits, job creation, and equitable financial impacts of the renewable energy transformation along with data-driven insights from local to global perspectives on accelerating progress.
An important session about Shared Responsibilities: Driving Clean Energy Policy Transformation at Federal, State, and Local Levels included Jigar Shah, Director of the Loans Program at the U.S. Department of Energy, and Dr. Becca Jones-Albertus, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy. That session dived into the collaborative efforts required to advance clean energy policy across various government levels. Speakers analyzed the roles and responsibilities of federal, state, and local authorities in shaping policy frameworks, fostering innovation, and overcoming regulatory hurdles to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy solutions.
Other technical sessions focused on connecting innovative technology and renewable energy policy, animated discussions, constant community building, and networking, including an ASES Divisions Luncheon, a NABCEP workshop, Women in Solar Energy (WISE) Interactive Forum, Spirit and Sustainability Forum, and an Industry Roundtable.
Other notable parts of the conference were sessions on A Sustainable Circular Economy: A Call to Action, Policy Panel Discussion: Breaking Down the Systemic Roadblocks: Improving Permitting and Siting, Educating the Public and Accelerating Implementation for a More Just and Equitable Future, Policy Panel Discussion: Workforce Transformation: Re-Training and Empowering a Diverse Workforce.
The conference included a DC Local Solar Tour in which participants took a tour around Washington, DC, to check out various solar sites in the area, including two residential homes and commercial buildings. It also included a Solar Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill that was led by ASES state chapters: Mid-Atlantic Solar Energy Society, Philadelphia Solar Energy Society, and New York Solar Energy Society. It included a pre-conference excursion to Capitol Hill that provided hands-on experience in solar advocacy. Participants discovered how their advocacy efforts could shape a brighter future for our one shared planet.
The event concluded with the ASES Annual Awards Banquet honoring individuals making significant contributions to society and within the field of solar and renewable energy each year. The 2024 award winners were as follows:
- Charles Greeley Abbot Award: Abraham Ellis
- Leadership in Solar Policy and Market Transformation Award: David Gahl
- Leadership in Solar Architecture and Design Award: Mike Nicklas and Gary Bailey
- Rebecca Vories Award for Volunteer Service: John Essig
- Claudia Hansen Wentworth Award for Code Development, Innovation, and Training: Mark Mrohs and Johnny Weiss
- Women in Solar Energy – WISE Award: Annika Colston
- John and Barbara Yellott Award: Remilekun Akinwonmi
- Hoyt Clarke Hottel Award & Lifetime Achievement Special Recognition from ASES Board of Directors: Fred Morse
Finally, ASES Fellow 2024 inductees honored were Vikram Sami, Liz Merry, Robert Peña, Troy Peters, William Guiney, and Jeff Lyng.