Taking Solar to The Next Level: Solar Power International Highlights

Revolution, solar revolution that is, was the buzz word at last week's Solar Power International event.

Whether it was U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis calling for more green jobs, SEIA's President Rhone Resch talking about the Solar Bill of Rights, Akeena Solar CEO Barry Cinnamon discussing his Solar Manifesto or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on renewables being a subversive technology, the event served as something of a rally, sounding the trumpets announcing where the industry finds itself and bringing all of the industry's stakeholders together to shore up support for what some say could be the final push solar needs to reach its full potential.

Our video studio on the show floor was full of solar industry leaders talking to us about what they're doing to help lead that final push. Some of the highlights are below.

Akeena Solar CEO Barry Cinnamon says that paperwork is the biggest hurdle to bringing the cost of small solar installations down. In fact, he says small systems shouldn't have any paperwork at all. Click here to watch an interview with him.

Resch talked with RenewableEnergyWorld.com's Jennifer Runyon about the need for solar companies to be more involved in their communities and to better educate the public about how to go solar in order to make that push. Click here to watch the interview.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. discussed his experiences fighting for environmental causes and how the solar industry needs to embrace the subversivness of its technology in order to push it ahead. Click here to watch Kennedey and the rest of Wednesday's Plenary Session.

Enphase Energy launched its micro-inverter last year. Since that time the technology has taken on a life of its own and the company has shipped 100,000 units in less than 12 months. I talked with Raghu Belur about the company's progress and how far the micro-inverter market could rise fall as the revolution continues. Click here to hear what Belur had to say.

I'll be publishing a lot more videos this week so stay tuned for those, and in the meantime, let me know what you think the biggest highlights of Solar Power International were.