Renewable Energy Conference and Expo Manila 2010

Renewable Energy Conference and Expo Manila 2010 Logo

Key players in the Philippines' renewable energy sector, including the Renewable Energy Coalition, in cooperation with the Department of Energy, have organized the Renewable Energy Conference and Expo Manila 2010 which was recently held from December 2-3, 2010 at the Dusit Thani Manila, Makati City, Philippines.

The Department of Energy Booth..We got some shirts and key chains from them.  Yepeey !

Guided by the theme, “From Policy to Action: Generating Impacts in 2010 and Beyond”, the conference gathered and facilitated dialogue among at least 300 stakeholders in assessing the gains made and issues faced in the implementation of the RE Law and in exploring available opportunities for business and partnerships in the Philippines' RE sector.  The organizers were actually expecting around 350 participants only but later on there were about 650 attendees and they had to make adjustments to the conference rooms and set-up.

The guest of honor is no other than His Excellency, Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, President of the Republic of the Philippines who delivered the Key Note Address during the event.

President Benigno Simeon Aquino delivering his speech during the Renewable Energy Conference

His Excellency, Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, President of the Republic of the Philippines

My company, SunPower was one of the major sponsor (Gold) of this event and as part of the sponsorship package, we were given an area for the exhibit.  My boss designated me to handle this event from the start of the coordination process up to the set-up of the exhibit booth and the event proper.  It was very tiring for three days from Ingress to the Egress stage.  Set-up of the exhibit booth started at 12 mid-night onwards at the Dusit Thani Manila hotel. Just imagine I only slept for less than two hours I guess. It is good that my boss told me that it is better to get a room at Dusit for me to stay till the end of the event. I stayed at the hotel for two nights but I barely had enough sleep.  I missed my own bedroom !

Thanks to our Facilities and ITG team who helped me during the exhibit set-up.  Everything was okay and the booth turned out to be great !  Most of the display and collateral materials used for the exhibit came from Sunpower U.S. and Sunpower Korea.  The actual solar panels and other materials came from Sunpower Philippines.  I was glad that all the materials came in on time specially those that had to be shipped from other countries. Thanks to Jenny Kwon of SPKR  (Sunpower Korea) and Genia Gilbert of SPSV (Sunpower Silicon Valley) for providing us the materials.

Me and some of the Sunpower Employees who helped me set-up the Exhibit Booth

Sunpower Booth...Well, what do you think of our booth ?

Various Sunpower videos were played on this monitor

I like this roll-up banner that Jenny Kwon sent to me.  It is portable and can easily be assembled.  Cool !

My boss, Gregory Reichow was invited to become one of the speaker for the break-out session.  However, he was not available due to his business trip in Malaysia.  He was able to get Mr. Zachary Struyk from Sunpower Korea who is the Director of Asia Component Sales to do the talk on solar. 

Kaye and me with my boss, Gregory Reichow - VP for Sunpower Operations

Mr. Struyk has led the development of photovoltaic power plant projects, totaling more than 13 MW in Korea, including the first megawatt-scale project in the country, located in Gwangju in 2006 and financed by the Export-Import Bank of the U.S., and more than 40 MW of module sales throughout Asia. Mr. Struyk joined SunPower in 2003 and played an integral role in SunPower’s achievement of #1 U.S. market share for large projects. He also helped realize SunPower’s first projects in Europe, including a 10 MW project in Germany and an 11 MW project in Portugal.

Mr. Struyk has been a resident of Korea since the opening of SunPower’s Seoul office in 2006. Before joining SunPower, he worked for JP Morgan’s investment banking practice. He received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Stanford University, and graduate degrees from the University of California at Berkeley and University of California, Los Angeles, in environmental science and business administration, respectively.

Zachary Struyk, Director of Asia Component Sales, Sunpower Korea

There were about thirty (30) Sunpower participants to the Renewable Energy Conference coming from Cell Fab 1, Cell Fab 2 and Modco.  Here are some of the photos I captured during the event :

Sunpower Attendees together with Gregory Reichow, VP-Operations.. Ladies and gentlemen you all look awesome !!!

Modco Director, Ralph Robinett and Reliability Manager, Ariel Bautista

Kaye Cano and Me manning our booth... Well, I am holding a dummy wafer.  This is the back side.

Dave Cortez of QA is busy on the other side attending to our booth visitor while we are having our photo session...he, he (From left, Kaye, Fe and me)

From left : Kaye Cano, Dave Cortez, Me and Christine Flores-Salazar

More visitors from Sunpower

A lot of people are going to our booth to have their photos taken after their inquiries.  That only tells one thing,  they love our products.

Just me with a dummy wafer from Zachary Struyk

Wafers anyone ?  These are not  edible wafers though..ha, ha, ha but will provide you with lots of power ! SunPower !

Me and some managers attending the Renewable Energy Conference

I promised this lady I am going to email her this photo.  I hope I did not lose the paper with her email address on it.

With Grace, Fe and Kaye

With Zachary Struyk (1st from right)

The lady  (2nd from left) is Erika who is from Aboitiz Power which is also one of the sponsor of the event.  Since our booth are just across each other, she became our friend

Other sponsors of the Renewable Energy Conference and Expo Manila 2010 includes Energy Development Corporation, First Gen, Aboitiz Power, Chevron, First Metro Investment Corporation, Habitat for Humanity, Acer and Panasonic.  We visited some of the the booths and panels and we even got some souvenirs from them. Great ! The Department of Energy also have a booth.

With the Department of Energy staff

Various panel boards

 During the dinner with the Dept. of Energy Secretary, we were serenaded by the Manila Chamber Singers. Guess what ? They first sang one of my favorite song, "The Prayer" which was originally sang by my favorite singer, Josh Groban and Charlotte Church.  They also sang some Christmas songs.

The Manila Chamber Singers

Bon Appetit !

A yummy dessert

 

There were WORKSHOP SESSION THEMES and these were the following :

PARALLEL TECHNICAL SESSIONS

These sessions examine the new and cutting edge technologies that help propel the growth of renewable energy development in various countries. It also seeks to examine the essential requisites that would further harness growth in each of the sectors—geothermal, biomass, wind, hydro and ocean, and solar.

SIMULTANEOUS BREAKOUT SESSIONS

The passage of the RE Law was anchored on the need to break market, financing, and technical barriers which were said to be the main causes of the country’s failure to fully harness its RE potential over the years. It is important, as the country seeks to move its RE agenda, to see how these constraints have been addressed since the passage of the RE Law. There will be four workshop sessions that will examine four compelling themes :

Market Barriers

This track will explore the market challenges and how the RE Law has been able to address these, including constraints that require urgent action.

Financing

This track will examine the financial or funding challenges that affect the RE sector. It will look at ways to further harness the investment climate, with the view of harnessing investments in the sector.

Technical

This track will look into technical issues or constraints that impact upon efficiencies and environmental considerations, and the ability to respond to realities and needs in the context of unique circumstances of Philippine communities.

Cross-cutting and Related Concerns

This track examines other issues and concerns that affect the growth and impact of the RE sector, including administrative constraints and policy issues such as IPRA and NCIP, among others.

CHEERS TO SUNPOWER !!!