Many visitors to Washington, D.C., may have been surprised to find a most unusual encampment National Mall – the Solar Decathlon, a now annual competition where 20 teams of college students from around the world are showing off their green dream homes in a competition to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house. Developed by the U.S. Department of Energy to showcase photovoltaics and green building design, the Solar Decathlon is open to the public.
While weather in D.C. turned soggy and cold this week, it didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of solar enthusiasts attending the event. One of the main sponsors for the event is Schneider Electric, Palatine, Ill., and its products are used throughout the solar homes. Energy management solutions incorporated into the houses include Xantrex solar inverters, TAC building automation and control, PELCO security, Juno lighting, Power Logic metering and software solutions, Square D electrical distribution equipment, programmable logic controllers, and lighting controls.
As a sponsor of Solar Decathlon 2009, Schneider Electric has supplied the solar village microgrid with design, site, and engineering services as well as the electrical distribution equipment required to safely and reliably connect the solar village to Pepco, the utility service on the National Mall, for the duration of the event. The Net Metering contest showcases these capabilities and illustrates how residential solar electric systems operate when connected with the power grid. — Jim Lucy in Washington, D.C. Details
Archive for October 14th, 2009
Schneider Electric Sponsoring Solar Decathlon in Washington. D.C.
Summit Electric Promotes Ilseng & Rusk to Leadership Posts in Houston & Phoenix
Summit Electric Supply (Albuquerque, N.M.): has promoted electrical industry veterans Rodney Ilseng and Craig Rusk to the positions of service center leaders in Houston and Phoenix, respectively. Ilseng succeeds Dan Ferrari, who has been promoted to regional vice president of the Gulf Coast region. Ilseng has been involved in electrical distribution since 1983. He joined Summit in April 2003. He most recently had been holding a dual role as service center leader in the Clute, Texas, location and as Summit’s industrial strategic accounts manager in the Gulf Coast. As Houston service center leader, he is responsible for sales and operations of the 62-member location, focusing on both industrial and commercial accounts. Ilseng holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas.
Craig Rusk succeeds Scott Cogan, who has been promoted to regional vice president of the Southwest Region. Rusk, a graduate of Arizona State University, joined Summit in 1993, becoming a consistently top performing account manager, focusing on industrial clients.
Summit has operated in the Phoenix market since 1991 and employs 40 associates in its Phoenix location.
Rydzynski goes consultant, joins Channel Marketing Group
Industry veteran Stan Rydzynski, who held various marketing posts for Leviton Manufacturing Co., including product development, segment marketing and channel management over a 35-year career in the electrical industry, has joined Channel Marketing Group as a consulting partner.
“He has the ability to understand distributor needs from a manufacturer perspective as well as the experience to help manufacturers generate growth. He is truly one of the marketing icons of the electrical industry and can help clients outperform their competition,” said David Gordon, Channel Marketing Group president.
Siemens Nails $900 Million in Wind Turbine Orders in One Month
As reported recently in Electrical Marketing’s LiveWire, Siemens is a big-time player in the global wind market. These orders will generate more than 565MW of electricity– enough to power 170,000 homes. Details
Grainger U.S. Sales Down 14% in 3Q but Net Earnings Rises 3%
Mixed 3Q finanicial news at Grainger, but some reasons to be cheerful:
Details
GE Joins $23 Million Funding for PV Company based in Israel
NISKAYUNA, N.Y. & HERZLIYA, Israel–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SolarEdge, whose technology increases solar power systems’ output by up to 25 percent, announced today that GE (NYSE: GE – News) unit GE Energy Financial Services has joined a US$23 million funding round to support growth in residential and large-scale photovoltaic sites. SolarEdge’s other investors are US venture capital leaders Opus Capital and Walden International, the Israeli funds Genesis Partners and Vertex Venture Capital, and the Singaporean fund JP Capital Asia.
In other news at GE Energy, the company also invested in Tendril, Boulder, Colo., which supplies communications equipment for the smart grid. Details
GE says 2010 Investment in Renewables Will Top $6 Billion
Green business is apparently good business for GE, according to this Reuters report.
Power Efficiency adds to sales management team
Motor-controller manufacturer Power Efficiency Corp., Las Vegas, Nev., added three executives to its team. Scott Johnson joins as executive vice president of sales and chief operating officer. His background includes positions at Warner Electric, Compumotor Corp. and Parker Hannifin. Jitendra (Jay) Mistry, director of industrial sales – Western Region, joined Power Efficiency in April after 18 years at Reliance Electric and Rockwell Automation. Jack Barrett, director of industrial sales – Eastern Region, joined Power Efficiency this month and brings over 30 years’ experience in sales and marketing of automation products, most recently with Danaher Motion.