Solar Austin

For our July happy hour, Warren Lasher will explore emerging grid challenges and opportunities associated with balancing power generation and consumption within the Texas Interconnection, one of four frequency-independent power grids in North America. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas is unique among these interconnections in so far as the balancing authority, the interconnection and the regional transmission organization are all the same entity and physical system. In a recent feature on KUT, Lasher likened ERCOT’s role as a reliability coordinator and balancing authority to John Bohnham’s role in Led Zeppelin. Just as a drummer might need to maintain a tempo of 60 beats per minute, ERCOT needs to maintain the heartbeat of the grid at 60 cycles per second.

Tuesday, July 23, 2019 from 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM 
Scholz Garten (1607 San Jacinto Boulevard Austin, TX 78701)
RSVP Here

About Warren Lasher: 

As Senior Director of System Planning for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. (ERCOT), Warren Lasher is responsible for transmission planning, load forecasting and resource adequacy analyses for the ERCOT interconnection. Lasher has been at ERCOT for over fourteen years; before this he was employed by the Southern Company in Birmingham, Alabama, where he worked in the Engineering and the Planning organizations. Lasher has a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, and graduate degrees in Environmental Management and Computer Science.

What are my parking options for the event?

State Parking Garages can be found next to, behind and across from Scholz Garten. San Jacinto Blvd., 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and Trinity have parking garage entrances. 

Although our happy hours are free and open to all, we hope you’ll consider donating to Solar Austin.  Help us keep solar energy growing in the Austin area.  You can purchase a ticket to the happy hour or go to our website, solaraustin.org, to donate and avoid fees.

For regular updates on our Happy Hours and more information about Solar Austin, follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook, and sign up for our email list via solaraustin.org.

Get more information and RSVP here.

We hope to see you at Scholz!

Solar Austin Board of Directors

The Texas Solar Energy Society (TXSES), a 501(c)(3) non-profit, has launched a search for a new Executive Director to succeed Lucy Stolzenburg. Effective December 31, 2019, Lucy is resigning from her role heading TXSES for the past seven years. TXSES is seeking an Austin-based professional to manage and lead the organization, which is supported by non-profit groups, business and individual members, and other generous donors. The Executive Director will be responsible for increasing and diversifying revenue streams; establishing, directing, and executing strategic programs; and acting as the TXSES ambassador and liaison with the public, government, affiliated organizations, and other stakeholders. More information is here.

Solar Austin is a mostly volunteer run organization, but we need part time help to get our work done and achieve our mission. The Solar Austin Communications and Event Coordinator will work under the supervision of the President or another member of the Board. The Communication and Event Coordinator will take on many of the routine duties required to host monthly happy hour events as well as other administrative and research duties, as assigned.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Attend monthly Solar Austin board meetings on the 1st Wednesday of each month from 6:30 to 8:30pm
2. Coordinate and Attend monthly happy hours on the 4th Tuesday of each month from 5 to 8pm (including setup). Coordination includes:
   • Speaker Coordination: working with Board Members to identify happy hour speakers, contacting and confirming speakers at least 6 weeks in advance, putting together short biographies, photos and a brief descriptions of speaker and topic.
   • Event Marketing (at least 1 month in advance): creating an Eventbrite invitation for each event, posting happy hour information to the Solar Austin website, sending an email blast to the Solar Austin supporter list, creating event pages on  Facebook and MeetUp, and effectively promoting all events on Facebook, Twitter, MeetUp and any other useful platforms and calendars.
   • Event Management: Bring all needed materials to and from event, get AV set up and staff the sign-in table.  Show people where to sign in; collect donations; be welcoming and answer questions (or direct questions to a board member).
3. Manage sign-in sheets and petitions by adding contacts to Solar Austin database.
4. Communications: Write regular monthly  blog posts on Solar Austin website. Share posts via the Solar Austin Facebook and Twitter accounts. Post daily updates to the Solar Austin Facebook and Twitter accounts.
5. Assist with solar, utility, and other research as needed.
6. Other administrative duties as assigned.

REQUIREMENTS:

Education:  High school diploma or GED required; some college work preferred

Knowledge: How to utilize social media to engage the public; some knowledge about solar energy and/or policy

Work Experience:  Some previous professional experience required; experience putting on events and using social media professionally strongly desired

Skills:  Excellent written and oral communication skills; well organized; good computer skills (experience with WordPress required; basic HTML beneficial, but not required); good social media skills (particularly Facebook and Twitter); graphic design and video skills valued, but not required

Capabilities:  Self-motivated; organized; ability to work independently, desire to learn about and advance solar energy policies and programs

APPLY

To apply, email info@solaraustin.org with your resume, cover letter, writing sample and social media samples.

For our May happy hour, Amanda Bybee will share the story of the Clean Energy Credit Union (CECU), a first-of-its-kind financial institution dedicated to providing affordable financing for clean energy products or services, such as EV purchases or home energy efficiency projects or solar retrofits. In addition to serving as a volunteer on the Supervisory Committee of the credit union, Amanda worked to obtain the CECU’s federal charter as a not-for-profit, tax-exempt cooperative that is democratically owned and controlled by its members on a one-vote-per-member basis. While the CECU is unique, it is not Amanda’s first foray into deeply democratic co-operative business structures.

Tuesday, May 28, 2019 from 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM 
Scholz Garten (1607 San Jacinto Boulevard Austin, TX 78701)
RSVP Here

About Amanda Bybee: 

In 2016, Amanda helped to earn a SunShot Initiative award from the US Department of Energy to found the Amicus O&M Cooperative, where she serves as CEO. This operations and maintenance cooperative brings together a network of service providers across the country to offer coordinated services for geographically distributed portfolios of solar assets. Its sister organization, Amicus Solar, is a member’s-owned buyers cooperative for solar installation companies. Both of these cooperatives are cultural and business offshoots of Colorado-based Namasté Solar, an employee-owned and B Corp-certified solar EPC. Prior to joining Namasté Solar in 2006, where she held numerous roles over an 11-year span, Amanda worked as a “Jill-of-all-trades” at Austin-based Meridian Solar. Amanda started her solar career in 2003, promoting renewable energy as the coordinator of Public Citizen’s Solar Austin Campaign.”

What are my parking options for the event?

State Parking Garages can be found next to, behind and across from Scholz Garten. San Jacinto Blvd., 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and Trinity have parking garage entrances. 

Although our happy hours are free and open to all, we hope you’ll consider donating to Solar Austin.  Help us keep solar energy growing in the Austin area.  You can purchase a ticket to the happy hour or go to our website, solaraustin.org, to donate and avoid fees.

For regular updates on our Happy Hours and more information about Solar Austin, follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook, and sign up for our email list via solaraustin.org.

Get more information and RSVP here.

We hope to see you at Scholz!

Solar Austin Board of Directors