Friday, October 18, 2019
Meydenbauer Center, Bellevue, WA
Conference + Exhibition + Reception

The Washington State Solar Summit is a one day conference consisting of panels and presentations covering topics relevant to the Washington solar industry. Solar Summit attendees include representatives from solar installation companies, utilities, manufacturers, distributors, engineers, tribes, city and state government agencies, policy makers, consultants, educators and more. Below is the schedule, list of speakers and presentation files from the 2019 Washington State Solar Summit held October 18, 2019 at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, WA. 

All photos from the 2019 Washington State Solar Summit by Jessica Yager Photography.

Introduction & Welcome

Pictured is Solar Washington President Dean Van Vleet welcoming the attendees to the Solar Summit. 

Dean Van Vleet
President, Solar Washington; Owner, Solar Forensic Services
Intro & Welcome

Link to presentation file.

Sarah Vorpahl
Senior Energy Policy Specialist, Washington State Department of Commerce
Conference Emcee/Framing the day

SESSION: Current industry trends, forecasts and opportunities 

From left: Austin Perea and Lauren McCloy (seated), Leslie Moynihan (standing; session programming lead)

Austin Perea
Senior Solar Analyst, Wood Mackenzie
National trends and forecasts (and where Washington fits in).

Link to presentation file.

Lauren McCloy
Senior Policy Advisor, Energy, Governor Jay Inslee
2019 wins and the staging of opportunities in Washington.

Link to presentation file.

SESSION: Advancing storage in Washington: policies, projects and trends

From left: Daniel Finn-Foley (seated) and Reeves Clippard (standing)

Daniel Finn-Foley
Head of Energy Storage, Wood Mackenzie
Lessons learned from the U.S. solar + storage market.

Link to presentation file.

Reeves Clippard
Founder, CEO, A&R Solar
What's driving the local Washington market?

Link to presentation file.

SESSION: Solar & Resilience: Highlighting projects throughout the state and elsewhere that use solar (plus other technologies) to increase resilience on the grid and in communities

From left: Sarah Vorpahl (conference emcee), Bob Kirchmeier (seated) and Edwin Wanji (standing) 

Bob Kirchmeier
P.E., Senior Energy Policy Specialist, Clean Energy Fund Grid Modernization Program, Washington State Department of Commerce
Giving an overview of several solar + energy storage programs co-funded by the Washington State Clean Energy Fund Grid Modernization program.

Link to presentation file.

Edwin Wanji
Sphere Solar Energy
Covering microgrid project developments and climate adaptation initiatives using solar PV for rural electrification and post-disaster response.

Link to presentation file.

SESSION: Solar panel recycling & addressing the current Washington recycling legislation (Photovoltaic module stewardship and takeback program)

From left, seated: Kirk Haffner, Sam Vanderhoof & Jeremy Smithson; Dean Van Vleet (standing, session programming lead) 

Jeremy Smithson 
Owner, Puget Sound Solar
Giving a brief history of the recycling law on the books.

Link to presentation file.

Kirk Haffner
Owner, South Sound Solar
Providing details of the existing recycling law. Here's a link to the law. 

Link to presentation file.

Sam Vanderhoof
CEO, Recycle PV Solar, LLC
On why recycling is necessary, the technologies, shortfalls of the WA state proposal.

Link to presentation file.

SESSION: Scaling Up: What it will take to get to 100%

From left, seated: Jason Thackston, Haley Gardner; standing: Senator Reuven Carlyle, Kelly Magalsky (session programming lead) 

Senator Reuven Carlyle
36th Legislative District
As chair of the Senate Environment, Energy, and Technology Committee, Senator Reuven Carlyle will provide a legislative update on solar developments in Washington. His remarks will include an in-depth discussion of the Washington Clean Energy Transformation Act, which moves Washington off coal by 2025 and to 100 percent clean and renewable energy by 2045.

Link to presentation file.

Haley Gardner
Specialist, Zero Energy, International Living Future Institute
Haley will speak about ILFI’s role in creating pathways that make solar energy abundant, equitable, and scalable from a building perspective.

Link to presentation file.

Jason Thackston
Senior Vice President, Energy Resources, Avista Utilities
Jason will provide an electric utility’s perspective of building upon the largest utility scale solar project in Washington and moving toward a 100% clean electric grid. Opportunities and challenges of renewable integration while maintaining reliability and affordability.

Link to presentation file.