For Immediate Release: Date October 20, 2003
Media Contact: Percy Della - 916-654-4989
M E D I A A D V I S O R Y
Attention City and Assignment Editors:
Energy Commission Co-hosts World Conference on Solar Power
16 Countries will be represented in Palm Springs October 21-23, 2003
| What: |
The California Energy Commission co-sponsors a worldwide
gathering on solar energy - the most evenly distributed and
readily available renewable energy resource on the planet. The
conference will highlight solar thermal plants whose main
features are concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies -
parabolic troughs, central receivers with a field of heliostats
(mirrors) or dish collectors to capture and concentrate the
sun's energy.
|
| When: |
October 21-23, 2003 |
| Where: |
Marriott Rancho Las Palmas, Palm Springs |
| Why: |
The International Executive Conference on Expanding the
Market for Concentrating Solar Power is the second to
be held in two years. The first conference occurred in
Berlin last year. The Palm Springs gathering will set into
motion the declaration of the Berlin conference to devise
a bold and effective plan to expand the international
market for CSP. This year's meeting seeks to define and
launch a coordinated global market initiative aimed at
building 5,000 megawatts of large-scale CSP power projects
in prime areas around the world within the next 10
years.
California serves as an ideal site for the conference
because it is home to the largest CSP project in the world
(Kramer Junction solar power plants in Boron, California),
which produces about 354 megawatts of CSP power. The state
has adopted an aggressive Renewables Portfolio Standard
mandating that 20 percent of California's electricity be
derived from renewable sources by the year 2017, with the
state's energy agencies adopting a policy to accelerate
this goal to 2010.
|
| Who: |
About 70 energy ministers, governors, chief executive
officers and senior members of the energy, financial and
policy sectors from 16 countries are represented in the
by-invitation-only conference. Among the invited
participants are California State Senator Debra Bowen,
chair of the Senate Committee on Energy; New Mexico
Governor Bill Richardson; California Energy Commissioner
John Geesman; Algeria's Minister of Energy and Mines,
Chakib Khelil; the European Union's Director General of
New Energies, Guenther Hanreich; and Ajay Vikram Singh,
India's Secretary of the Ministry of Non-Conventional
Energy Sources.
Co-sponsors of the conference are the United States
Department of Energy, the United Nations Environment
Programme, the Global Enviromental Facility, Germany's
Federal Ministry for the Environment, the International
Energy Agency, SolarPACES, a world-wide consortium to
promote CSP, and the German Development Bank.
|
Attention: News and Assignment Editors:
Your news contact during the conference is: Sheila Blum at 760-568-2727
or cell: 301-996-8071. For questions about the Commission's renewable
energy program, your on-site contact is Tim Tutt, the program's
technical director at: 916-747-2019.
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