Previous Agenda

What will it take from the industry to hit targets in the next 10 years? As the industry experiences new challenges within 2023 and beyond, how has industry outlook changed, where are the potential stumbling blocks, and what mitigating strategies should a business adopt? A number of talking points remain within the industry, namely:

• How has the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, and the potential for 10 years of tax credits, changed market assumptions and what is the big picture for growth?
• Which solar markets now have the biggest growth potential?
• How can the industry create positive engagement from community stakeholders?
• What are the implications of current supply chain issues going forward and how should projects best contain CAPEX?

Understanding new revenue streams in tax equity. • How are developers and investors viewing cost uncertainty? • Understanding credit and the tax equity conundrum PTC VS ITC, which is better? • How are debt offerings for solar changing?

A guide to the Inflation Reduction Act policy and the consequences for business.

• What has been the industry experience of accessing funds?
• How will new guidance affect future market choices?
• How to best capitalize on current policies
• How far is leverage in changes to the tax code and IRA implications constrained by permitting?

Hail, hurricanes and more, what are the implications of extreme weather on operational risk and long-term performance?

• Responses to extreme weather events, what are asset owners doing to protect assets?
• How should risk be managed in these uncertain times and how long will current rates for insurance last?

This session will provide insight into how using the latest technologies can improve product yield and LCOE. Points considered: 

• How can asset developers and owners choose equipment for best optimization?
• What methodologies are being used and what impact does it have on the life of assets?
• Main trends and challenges
• What’s really having a positive impact and how are companies measuring it?

How are others preparing for a future of potential supply chain bottlenecks and how quickly with the US be able to scale up its domestic supply? A look at supply-demand imbalance and product procurement strategies.

• What tactics are developers using to ensure supply?
• Long-term strategic partnerships
• ESG requirements and priorities
• Future outlook

Despite increasing adoption of co-located systems, there are considerable industry knowledge gaps about the fundamental differences between the three main solar+storage configurations – AC-coupled, DC-coupled, and Fixed DC-coupled. Levent Gun, CEO of Ampt will discuss why Fixed DC-coupled systems provide superior cost and performance advantages over other architectures and now represent a growing number of front-of-the-meter DC-coupled solar+storage around the world. The presentation will highlight various real-world use cases including peaker plant replacements and “storage as a transmission” assets (SATA).

With PV ramping up to become a mainstream source of power generation, its current socio-environmental footprint has raised questions of industry image and community engagement. To survive and foster further growth, how can the industry promote a positive community image? 

• What should our industry standards be and how should the industry best commit and promote its values?
• Potential stumbling blocks and lessons learned.

Can effective forecasting and operation of assets make the solar businesses more profitable? What measures have been put in place to solve current underperformance issues?

A focus session on hydrogen and solar featuring perspectives on how hydrogen will impact the Large-Scale US solar and where the biggest opportunities for development can be found in the market going forwards.

• Where does the demand from hydrogen come from?
• What opportunities are there for funding?

• What is the long-term outlook for power prices in the US?
• How do corporate offtakers, utilities and traders’ price PPAs?
• Utility PPAs vs corporate PPAs: key differences

• How has Inflation Reduction Act impacted the long-term outlook for capacity expansion in the US?
• How should solar assets decide between the Investment Tax Credit and Production Tax Credits?
• What will be the locational impact of this selection and how will curtailment be affected?

In areas where power prices are low and grid constraints remain an issue, how can collocated technologies be used to maximize queue position and what are the practical steps needed to implement them? This session will also answer additional questions on IRA implications for future trends of storage such as BESS compensation methods and financing collocated projects.  

How will labor shortages shape the future of the industry and how should businesses best mitigate the repercussions?

• What are businesses doing to recruit more workers and what is best practice for staff retention?
• What can be done to transfer skilled workers from other sectors into the industry?
• What have been the effects of the IRA apprenticeship requirements and prevailing wage?

A deep dive into the challenges within interconnection and transmission and the modernization of our grid systems.

This session will dive the decisions faced by developers and asset owners' post-development. Questions discussed include:

• Development decisions on project structuring that make a project attractive.
• Perspectives from vertically integrated IPPs and develop-and-flip players.
• Analysis of utility scale and distributed solar throughout the project lifecycle and across major US markets

This session will take place as a roundtable format in which networking groups will have the opportunity to hear how others prepare for the US political outlook of 2024 and beyond. The session will begin with a quickfire presentation on the current solar landscape in 2023 and the audience will then split into smaller round table discussion groups.