It was a small group for our first meeting in over a year, but there was some great discussion as usual. Highlight of the evening was a chance to meet Tyler Huebner, the new Executive Director from RENEW Wisconsin. What was clear right from the start was that Tyler shares the idea that there is considerable opportunity for local economic development and renewable energy. We have engineering and advanced manufacturing companies right here in Sun Prairie that do considerable work with clients in a variety of energy and power producing markets.
As if to further demonstrate the importance of the private sector in renewables, Tyler invited me to attend a small group meeting at the Wisconsin Energy Institute with former UW Madison graduate Tom Werner, who is now the CEO of SunPower out in California. Tom confirmed the competitiveness of U.S. R&D capabilities and discussed some of the newer technologies and policies that are changing how feasible solar energy can be.
Some additional resources you might be interested in:
Sun Power Corporation Website: http://us.sunpowercorp.com/
Bio on Tom Werner from Forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/profile/thomas-werner-1/
Wisconsin Energy Institute: http://energy.wisc.edu/
UW grad and SunPower CEO Tom Werner touts solar industry growth (Capital Times):
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/mike_ivey/uw-grad-and-sunpower-ceo-tom-werner-touts-solar-industry/article_25121eec-1668-11e3-81d0-001a4bcf887a.html
Blogger's Note: Thanks to Tyler and RENEW for meeting with us, and for the invitation to hear Tom speak on campus. Looking forward to working together to engage more companies like SunPower.
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