Today is the (lucky) 13th anniversary of one of the greatest projects I've ever had the privilege to be part of - the 144-panel solar thermal project atop the Saint Paul RiverCentre. So celebrating with a little look back and a BIG thank you to the partners that made this possible - Kate S., Bill Huepenbecker, Jim Giebel, Anne Hunt, Chris Coleman, Brian Ross, Stacy Miller, Kathy Ross Pavek, Jora Bart, Anders Rydaker, Ken Smith, Bjorn Gangeness, Ray Watts, Jeff Volovsek, Joe Lucas, Jason Coughlin, and the teams from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Solar America Cities), TKDA, Pioneer Power, Sheehy Construction Company, and Arcon Solar. And bonus shout outs to any other team members from Ever-Green Energy that made that project a reality. This was a first-of-its-kind project in the U.S. and where I cut my teeth understanding how difficult it is to be the first with emerging technology at this type of scale. Spoiler alert - it's hard. But that list of partners above is how we made it happen. It's why the Grid Catalyst program is built on a similar partnership model. And it's why some of you may have seen the project poster, designed by AlyssA Greening, behind me in a Zoom meeting. Extra fun to see current collaborators - Peter Frosch and Gregg Mast in these pics, showing up for innovation and clean energy at our launch event. Now two of the most crucial partners for driving energy and cleantech innovation in Minnesota. #AccelerateNorth #demo2deploy #solar #partnership #innovation #Minnesota #WeNeedCleanMN
Apostol Radev, #solarthermal forever!
It does not seem possible that it was 13 years ago! Good project with great people to bring it to fruition. Hope all are doing well.
A tremendous project indeed! I miss those days of working together
Nice montage of a great project and an awesome team!
Let's hope the next project (working with MCES to use waste heat) works almost as great!
Hurrah, it was a terrific project!
Cutting edge is very hard. Interested to hear this story sometime!
Kate, Kathy, and Jora Bart, why couldn't I find any pics of you all? If you have one from the launch, please share!