PV America and 34th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference open in wake of Obama announcement of increased funding for solar initiatives

PHILADELPHIA, PA - The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) will host the PV America Conference and Trade Show, in partnership with IEEE's 34th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) and the Mid-Atlantic Solar Energy Industries Association (MSEIA), from Monday, June 8 to Wednesday, June 10 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

Monday's joint opening plenary session from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. will feature Pennsylvania
Governor Edward G. Rendell, Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Program Manager JoAnn Milliken, and SEIA President and CEO Rhone Resch. It will be followed by a news conference in Room 110 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Tuesday's plenary session from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. will feature industry visionary Jigar Shah of Jigar Shah Consulting, founder and former CEO of SunEdison and a Workforce Development Roundtable moderated by Jeff Wolfe, CEO of groSolar and Chair of SEIA's Photovoltaics Division. Panelists for the roundtable include Kathleen Bolcar (U.S. Department of Energy Workforce Development Program), Dave Foster (Blue Green Alliance), Bracken Hendricks (Center for American Progress), and David Riley (Penn State Center for Sustainability). It will be followed by a news conference in Room 110 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Wednesday's plenary session from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. will feature former Director of
Central Intelligence James Woolsey and a Solar Financing Roundtable moderated by Jesse Pichel of Piper Jaffray. Panelists include Nancy Pfund of DBL Investors, Ed Sproull of HSH-Nordbank AG, Sanjay Shrestha of Lazard Capital Markets, Nick Allen of Morgan Stanley, and Energy Workforce Development Program), Dave Foster (Blue Matt Cheney of Renewable Ventures (a Fotowatio Company). It will be followed by a news conference in Room 110 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Nearly 3,000 attendees are expected to attend the joint conferences. PV America will offer more
than 40 educational sessions focusing on expanding market opportunities, workforce development, and policy. Conference attendees will also have access to 125 exhibitors in the exposition hall. The exposition hall will be open to the public at no charge for Public Day on Tuesday, June 9 from 12:00 noon to 8:00 p.m.

PV America is SEIA's first conference dedicated solely to the fastest growing sector of the solar industry - photovoltaic solar that experienced 81 percent growth rate in 2008 despite the faltering economy. This is also SEIA's first conference on the East Coast. Philadelphia is located in the heart of what has emerged as one of the nation's leading areas for photovoltaic installations - the Mid-Atlantic region.

Media are welcome at the plenary sessions, concurrent sessions, press conferences and exposition. For press credentials, contact presscredentials@seia.org.

About PV America and the 34th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference Organizers of the PV America 2009 program include the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Mid-Atlantic
chapter of SEIA (MSEIA). Programming from IEEE's renowned Photovoltaic Specialists Conference is paired with SEIA's policy and market development expertise to present the most current updates on PV technology, industry trends and business opportunities. Learn more at http://www.pvamericaexpo.com and http://www.34pvsc.org.

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