The conference includes four days of educational sessions, workshops, general sessions and special events, as well as hundreds of exhibits from throughout the solar value chain.

WASHINGTON, DC – Solar Power International (SPI), the solar industry's most respected, comprehensive educational conference and product exhibition, will kick off Monday evening at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, and run through Thursday.

The conference includes four days of educational sessions, workshops, general sessions and special events, as well as hundreds of exhibits from throughout the solar value chain.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz will keynote the general session on Wednesday.

In addition, SPI will also offer its first dedicated symposium on the solar heating and cooling (SHC) sector, and for the second year in a row, SPI is partnering with Clean Energy Trust (CET) to present the tremendously success Start Up Alley, showcasing the best and the brightest in new solar companies.

More than 15,000 solar professionals are expected to attend SPI 2014.

"SPI is absolutely the best opportunity of the year to connect with your colleagues and industry leaders – to find out what's going on in solar and to get your company in front of potential clients and customers," said Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), which presents SPI in conjunction with the Solar Electricity Power Association (SEPA).

Today, the U.S. solar energy industry pumps more than $15 billion a year into the economy, while employing 143,000 Americans nationwide and helping to fight pollution.