Solar Austin Happy Hour: Valuing Solar and Distributed Energy Resources
The explosive growth of renewable energy throughout the US, including here in Austin, continues thanks to technological and policy innovations such as the value of solar tariff incentive used here in Austin. Nevertheless, funding and implementing wide-scale storage of renewable energy remains a challenge, particularly for distributed energy resources (DER), such as rooftop solar.
We are excited to announce that Karl Rábago, Executive Director of the Pace Energy and Climate Center (PECC), will discuss these and related renewable energy innovations as our September Happy Hour speaker. He will be joining us via Skype, but don’t worry – the rest of your Solar Austin friends will be there in person. Mr. Rábago will delve into the development of value of solar tariffs in different markets as well as its potential role in the adoption of DER storage. As the former Vice President of Distributed Energy Services at Austin Energy who led the way in creating the first value of solar tariff, Mr. Rábago will be a particularly insightful speaker on this topic.
When: Tuesday, September 25th, 5:30-8:00 p.m.
Where: Scholz Garten, 1607 San Jacinto Blvd
RSVP now to join this interesting conversation.
Mr. Rábago is the Executive Director of the PECC, at the Pace Law School in White Plains, New York. The PECC mission is to protect the earth’s environment through solutions that transform the ways that society supplies and consumes energy. Mr. Rábago has some 25 years experience in energy and climate policy markets. He serves as Chair of the Board of the Center for Resource Solutions, a San Francisco-based non-governmental organization that works to advance voluntary clean energy markets. He also sits on the Board of the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Mr. Rábago also is co-director and principal investigator for the Northeast Solar Energy Market Coalition, a US DOE SunShot Initiative Solar Market Pathways project.
We hope you will join us for this discussion on cutting edge innovations in solar and energy storage policy with a true industry thought-leader
Sam Martens has been with Mission Solar since 2013. He serves as Mission Solar Energy’s Commercial Operation Director. He previously worked as an equity analyst at Macquarie Group, the Royal Bank of Scotland and most recently CIMB Band, Malaysia, responsible for the Asian semiconductor and solar sectors. Earlier in his career, he worked in information technology (IT) policy research at a Korean government think tank. He has his bachelor’s in arts degree in international studies, focusing on economics and international studies, from Korea University. He is fluent in English and Korean.
Mr. Watson was born with a passion for the environment and nature, and since he was a kid, he wanted to be a Game Warden. However, life happened and he has spent most of the past 15 years in corporate finance, business development and private equity with a primary focus on technology commercialization and growth management. In addition to his role at Dividend Finance, he spent seven years working in M&A, due diligence, market research and operational strategy in countries including China, India and Mexico. Mr. Watson is also a Partner at Climate Impact Capital, a Director of Hermes Investment Group, a Kiva Zip trustee, and a SURE Program advisory board member. He holds a BBA in Finance, minor in Spanish, speaks Mandarin Chinese, and is a native Texan.