Latest / Clean Power Hour / Is Midwest Solar Expo the KEY to Unlocking Regional CLEAN ENERGY? | EP289

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Is Midwest Solar Expo the KEY to Unlocking Regional CLEAN ENERGY? | EP289 · Clean Power Hour

• 0:53
  Jake Rozmaryn: And there's just seemed to be this huge gap in the middle of the country. And as these markets, like New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, DC, right? Like, as these markets were maturing, obviously California was super mature, it kind of felt like there's this void, right? You fly over the middle of the country, and like the markets didn't exist. And so the thesis for the show was, let's build a platform that's going to get folks in market to convene, right, do business together and and meet and connect, right? But let's also bring all these companies on the coast that have done it, that have built it, that are more mature into these markets, and get them to help catalyze investment and you know, bring expertise. Know how, you know technology Bring, bring the goods to the middle of the country to help get these markets going.
• 1:41
  intro: Are you speeding the energy transition here at the Clean Power Hour, our host, Tim Montague, bring you the best in solar, batteries and clean technologies every week. Want to go deeper into decarbonization.
• 1:56
  intro: We do too. We're here to help you understand and command the commercial, residential and utility, solar, wind and storage industries. So let's get to it together. We can speed the energy transition
• 2:08
  Tim Montague: today on the Clean Power Hour. We're giving you a preview of the Midwest solar Expo, June 9 to 11 in Chicago, Illinois. My guest today is Jake Rozmaryn, the founder, the owner, or recently ex owner.
• 2:26
  Tim Montague: Welcome to the show. Jake,
• 2:27
  Jake Rozmaryn: always a pleasure sitting down with Tim.
• 2:30
  Tim Montague: Well, let's get the cat out of the bag.
• 2:32
  Tim Montague: Congratulations, you have officially sold the Midwest solar Expo to inter solar. Thank you, inter solar. And what's the story there? Jake,
• 2:42
  Jake Rozmaryn: the story. I mean, it was, it was really synergistic. You know, been, been running the show for 10 years. You know, started the show in Minnesota, moved into Chicago. Inner solar is a world class event organization owned by diversified communications.
• 3:01
  Jake Rozmaryn: Inner solar is a world class event organization, unbelievable reputation, unbelievable leadership. And when they started to build out their regional event strategy, obviously they have their flagship InterSolar North America show. They launched InterSolar Texas, you know, kind of got my head scratched, and I'm like, Okay, well, you know, probably, probably starting to build out, you know, some some, some regional, regional shows, and it's just an incredible platform to plug into. I've known the people at inner solar for, you know, 1015, years at this point. And so it was, it was just very synergistic, you know, really the perfect place, you know, to look after this baby, you know that that we've grown into a really dominant regional, regional event.
• 3:49
  Tim Montague: And just in case, you don't know, and you're listening to this, the Midwest solar Expo started in the Twin Cities in Minnesota and then moved to Chicago a couple of years ago. But it's been a, it's been a Minnesota event. Largely,
• 4:03
  Jake Rozmaryn: it was, yeah, it was a Minnesota event. This is our third year in Chicago. So, you know, the first seven or eight events were in Minnesota, which was made a lot of it made a ton of sense at the time. With Minnesota had a ton of policy leadership, you know, particularly around things like community solar and the value of solar tariff, and, you know, a variety of other things in that market. And then, you know, Illinois, there's a ton of momentum in Illinois. And so, you know, we decided it was, it was the right time. And, you know, the show basically doubled in size after the move to Illinois, which was incredible.
• 4:44
  Jake Rozmaryn: The market was super, super receptive. Yeah,
• 4:46
  Tim Montague: yeah, I, I was a big fan of the move. I have nothing against the Twin Cities.
• 4:52
  Tim Montague: I love going to the Twin Cities, but it is harder to get to the Twin Cities than it is to the city of Chicago, I will say so I think for the national audience that we do a draw here in the Midwest, it's great to have the event in Chicago. And real quick, I want to give a shout out to the expo sponsors. The host sponsor is powering Chicago. That is an IBEW Nica organization. Thank you, Nika, and then many other sponsors, including Nautilus solar, Nelnet renewable energy, renewable energy, evolution solar, Edge solar, simplified summit ridge energy, Terra smart trajectory.
• 5:41
  Tim Montague: Energy Partners, turning point energy, United Brotherhood of Carpenters, wind, free, solar.
• 5:54
  Tim Montague: Uh, Goshen, green tech, renewables, Mars energy, and that's it. Thank you all sponsors,
• 6:02
  Jake Rozmaryn: incredible, incredible. Have such amazing support. So many sponsors coming back, you know, year after year.
• 6:08
  Jake Rozmaryn: And you know, the show's just benefited so much from from all of their support. And I think we've, we've worked really hard to, you know, bring value to each and every one of them in different ways.
• 6:21
  Tim Montague: So I think of the Midwest Expo as a DG focused event. There is content at the event for utility distributed generation, meaning community solar, rooftop solar, and even residential solar, but the so the heart of it is DG, solar and storage is definitely a theme that is just building, building, building. I like to say that if you're a solar professional, you need to be a solar and storage professional, because they are just the peanut butter and jelly of of energy. What are you looking forward to most about the event?
• 6:56
  Jake Rozmaryn: I think the diversity of content is always, always gets me excited, right?
• 7:03
  Jake Rozmaryn: Like, we work really hard to make sure that we've got compelling content, compelling speakers, you know, industry engagement from across the value chain. So, you know, there's, there's always a nice resi, you know, contingent. So always a nice CNI contingent, nice utility contingent. Obviously, you know, you can't talk about Illinois, or, you know, a lot of the Midwest at this point without, you know, recognizing the community solar leadership, which is really remarkable, you know, particularly in places like Illinois and so, you know, work really hard to diversify the content. I think a lot of it comes down to, like, the things that get me really excited are like, where are those big areas that are gaining momentum, right, that have huge implications for the industry?
• 7:49
  Jake Rozmaryn: So, you know, content on virtual power plants always, you know, it's super compelling, super interesting, right now, you know, you can't really have a clean energy show without talking about the explosive growth of AI and data centers, right? I mean, like that, that for sure, you know. So, you know, I think those are some of the things that get me particularly excited. But, you know, this is a, it's a very interesting time for the industry. There's a lot of transition more, I mean, you and I have been around this space for a long time, right? It's it, you know, we started here, and we're here, the path has looked like this, right? And we're in depth, you know, definitely in a, you know, definitely in turbulent times right now. But, you know, I think, I think what's, what's very clear, despite all of the turbulence, and, you know, the headwinds that everyone's facing is that these are market driven solutions, and, you know, they're going to continue to be directed by the market. And I think that's, that's going to be a message that comes through across the show, right? Like these, hey, like, regardless of what's happened at a federal level, or, you know, in various states, you know, we're marching forward, you know. And I think that's that's exciting, and it's a theme that's going to carry through. You know, throughout the show,
• 9:03
  Tim Montague: we've got some great keynote speakers. I have the privilege of interviewing Norm Taff, the president of energy technology at Generac, and Doug Scott, chair of the Illinois Commerce Commission, which is our PUC. And then I see that Dean Solon, founder and CEO of create energy, is a speaker.
• 9:27
  Tim Montague: Dean is in the process of launching a very interesting solar panel company called Create, and then a couple of other right, sorry, oh, I know, right. Gonna
• 9:40
  Jake Rozmaryn: be amazing to have him on the stage. I can't believe we're 11 years in. It's our first time getting getting the legend on our stage, but it's gonna be awesome. Yeah,
• 9:50
  Tim Montague: I had the pleasure of hanging out a little bit with him in Boston at re plus northeast. And he is, he is just quite a character. And so you can look forward to that. I'm not sure exactly what he's going to be speaking about, but it will not be boring. Yeah, that is for sure. And then shout out to Sonny ellibua at Exelon, Senior Vice President of chief and strategy sustainability officer, and Melissa Washington, Chief Customer Service Officer at come Ed, so we have Exelon and come Ed also,
• 10:33
  Jake Rozmaryn: yeah, how awesome is that. I mean, like, they, they, you know, they've always attended the show, but they've gotten significantly more engaged in recent years. And, you know, there really does seem to be very genuine interest in the growth and development of these markets. And you know, last year they ran a solar summit during the Midwest solar Expo, which was basically like an open forum to talk to developers. And I think we had something like 150 developers show up to have a candid conversation about the challenges that they're facing.
• 11:10
  Jake Rozmaryn: And you know, what kinds of solutions they want to see. It was just like this collaborative session where you had, you know, one of the biggest utilities in the country, basically being like, how can we help you? How can we be better, right? Like, how unique is that? And so I was really encouraged by that last year. And they're going to be doing some some interesting things at the event this year, you know, they're going to be, you know, meetings very similar meeting with developers around the show, and have the privilege of having two very senior executives from both Exxon and comed grace the keynote stage this year. And
• 11:46
  Tim Montague: that begs the question, Where is Ameren in the mix? Why is not Ameren able to be there? Do we know they have
• 11:54
  Jake Rozmaryn: participated in the past? But, yeah, I don't know. We'd love, we'd love to see them next year, you know, playing a more, a more active role, you know. But, you know, I think comed and exons a great place to great place to be this year,
• 12:12
  Tim Montague: the Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America, maker of North America's number one three phase string inverter with over eight gigawatts shipped in the US. The CPS product lineup includes string inverters ranging from 25 kW to 350 kW. Their flagship inverter, the CPS 350 KW is designed to work with solar plants ranging from two megawatts to two gigawatts. CPS is the world's most bankable inverter brand, and is America's number one choice for solar plants, now offering solutions for commercial utility. ESS and Balance of System Requirements, go to chintpowersystems.com or call 855-584-7168, to find out more. I think it is so vital for the utilities to be in dialog with the industry and vice versa. It's a two way street we can learn from one another.
• 13:14
  Tim Montague: Nobody's perfect, and we ultimately have to work together to execute the clean energy transition. We are completely interconnected. To use a key phrase from the industry,
• 13:28
  Jake Rozmaryn: word there, Tim,
• 13:31
  Tim Montague: what can I say?
• 13:36
  Tim Montague: Um, so, you know, I'm curious, Jake, you know, having run this event for 10 years, that's quite an arc of experience. First of all, like, why on earth did you create the Midwest Expo, and what do you hope will happen with the expo moving forward now, under the tutelage of inner solar, yeah,
• 13:58
  Jake Rozmaryn: so when we started the expo, I was living in DC. I was very involved with at the time, was Maryland, DC and Virginia. See a chapter which is now called Chessa Chesapeake solar Association, and I was running their solar conference called solar focus, which maybe you've been to at some point. It's a great event, typically in like the Maryland, DC area. And you know what we observed is like, you know, I was going to PV, what was it called? PV America East, and PV America West. I was going to inner solar. I was going to, you know, what the time SPI, right?
• 14:40
  Jake Rozmaryn: And all of these shows were on the coasts, right? Or, you know, you know, our SPI was, you know, often in Vegas, but everything happening on the coast. And there's just seemed to be this huge gap in the middle of the country. And as these markets, like New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, DC, right? Like, as these markets were maturing, obviously California was super mature, it kind of felt like there's this void, right? You fly over the middle of the country and like the markets didn't exist. And so the thesis for the show was, let's build a platform that's going to get folks in market to convene, right, do business together and and meet and connect, right? But let's also bring all these companies on the coast that have done it, that have built it, that are more mature into these markets, and get them to help catalyze investment. And, you know, bring expertise. Know How?
• 15:31
  Jake Rozmaryn: You know, technology Bring, bring the goods to the middle of the country to help get these markets going. And so, you know, I mentioned earlier on, like Minnesota was becoming this, like, you know, kind of becoming, you know, really a policy leader. So it made sense to start there. But then other markets start to pick up. Or. In the Midwest. And I think that was something that was really special about this show, is that you had, you had, you know, obviously, tons of people in the Midwest. We had all these people from the coasts that were, you know, very, very interested in market development, very interested in, you know, creating something from the ground up. And so if you look at, like, the attendance makeup of this show, right, like it's very high percent of people that are coming from around the country, right? It's, obviously, you have tons of people from the Midwest. Obviously, it's the Midwest solar Expo, but you know, you had a ton of people from coming from all over the country with an interest in these markets. And so, you know, we built it up. And, you know, last year we had almost 1000 people at the show. Is incredible, amazing energy was, you know, the biggest event to date. And, you know, so we looked at that, you know, we looked at all that growth. And, you know, kind of like we're small, you know, this is a small operation, is? It was not my full time job, right? And kind of looked at that and said, you know, what's what's next? Like, how can we continue to build on that thesis, right? Of, like, continuing to catalyze momentum in the middle of the country?
• 17:03
  Jake Rozmaryn: Obviously, these markets have come a long way right over the last 11 years. But, you know, inner solar was, was really the perfect platform, if you look up the makeup now of you know exhibitors, there's, there's tons of new, first time exhibitors that are being introduced to the market because of the larger inner solar platform, right? And so inner solar is not, it's not just the national it's a global platform.
• 17:27
  Jake Rozmaryn: So it continues to build on that original thesis of the show with partners that are just so invested in the success of the industry, and have been for so so long, and so that was, that was really compelling to me. It really felt like we were able to, you know, continue to do what we started out to do, right? But just with, with a, I mean, like the the inner solar team is massive, you know, there's, there's so many resources to do just interesting things and flex, you know, creatively in different ways.
• 18:00
  Jake Rozmaryn: You know, they have their own incredible relationships, and so that that really, you know, that really got me excited about, about, you know, kind of handing the baton on to to another group, and I'm still, I'm still very much involved, you know, as an advisor. And obviously, you know, been, been, been doing this a long time. Well,
• 18:20
  Tim Montague: an inner Solar has an amazing legacy, right there.
• 18:23
  Tim Montague: Event in inner solar Europe is, is kind of the grandfather in the world of solar events. And so they, they've been playing second fiddle to re plus, you know, with their major event, but they're, they're catching up now here in the US, and it's great to see them creating some regional events. And congrats to you. The thing that I look forward to most about this is both the diversity of the audience, getting to rub shoulders with community, solar developers, installers, EPCs, manufacturers, of course, and catching up on what's going on across the Midwest. Of course, I keep my finger on the pulse of what's going on, but I always come away with some fresh, new takes on, when is Michigan going to pop? When is Ohio going to pop? When is Missouri going to pop? I mean, there's already healthy, mostly residential markets in across the Midwest, but community solar, for example, is a floodgate that needs to get opened elsewhere now, in Wisconsin, Michigan, Missouri, hopefully Sunday, Indiana, that's my birthplace.
• 19:43
  Tim Montague: But Indiana is a bit of a slow mover right now, I would say.
• 19:47
  Tim Montague: And then also solar and storage.
• 19:54
  Tim Montague: There's there's quite a bit of storage content here, so that'll be juicy and relevant for both behind the meter and, I think front of the meter. What else should we let our listeners know? Jake, in our last couple minutes together about what they can look forward to at the Expo?
• 20:08
  Jake Rozmaryn: It's good question. I mean, this is a really important time for people to be coming together, unifying their voice, you know, really being, you know, providing fellowship and camaraderie to to, you know, folks in the industry that are, you know, that are struggling with the current environment. And you know, it's going to be, it's gonna be an amazing show. We've got amazing content. As always.
• 20:36
  Jake Rozmaryn: Can be amazing people there. But you know, this is a time where we really need, you know, more than you know in, you know, maybe the last I've been in this industry, 1516, years, maybe more than ever. You know, we need people. You know, coming together and having a unified voice, and, you know, collectively, punching above our weight. You know, not that we're lightweight anymore, right? But it's just really important to come to come together right now.
• 21:06
  Jake Rozmaryn: And so I think that that's going to be really important. And I think people are going to really appreciate, you know, the insights, the the knowledge sharing and the camaraderie of the Midwest solar Expo. It's always been such a good party.
• 21:20
  Jake Rozmaryn: It's a party show. You know, it's always a good time. It's always, it's always a great time. So, yeah, I mean, I think that that's, it's really important right now you know probably more than maybe you know, maybe more than ever. So excited to see everyone in a few weeks and yourself included.
• 21:37
  Jake Rozmaryn: Tim, appreciate all of your support of the show over the years, and I'm glad we're able to you know, have you back on the stage men you know multiple times at this year's event, but, but, yeah, can't wait. I'm super pumped.
• 21:47
  Tim Montague: Yeah, just want to encourage anybody who you know.
• 21:51
  Tim Montague: As far as exhibiting goes, there are booths available. So just check out Midwest solar Expo com. Go to the exhibitor page.
• 22:00
  Tim Montague: Shout out to Nico Johnson, who will be on site doing some interviews and recording in the Suncast media stage on the on the exhibition floor. And that's a great opportunity to get exposure for your company, your brand and but all the major to get involved for sure, so many ways. Well, I want to thank you, Jake Rozmaryn and founder and organizer of the Midwest Expo, for sharing this time with me, and with that said, let's grow solar and storage. Take care, Jake, let's
• 22:33
  Jake Rozmaryn: do it all right.
• 22:36
  Jake Rozmaryn: Have a great rest of your day.
• 22:36
  Jake Rozmaryn: You.