Message From The Sunspec Alliance Chairman – Tom Tansy

Dear SunSpec Alliance Members and Friends,

As indicated on the SunSpec LinkedIn site (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2397500&trk=anet_ug_hm&goback=.gmp_2397500 ) 2011 was a year of tremendous accomplishment and growth for the SunSpec Alliance. Here is a list of just some of our collective accomplishments:

* Published our eighth specification (and have several more–including inverter control and a reporting extract spec–in the works)
* Welcomed our 50th SunSpec member (we’re now nearing 60)
* Tested and certified nine SunSpec-compliant products
* Participated and spoke at conferences around the world
* Established important relationships with the Electricity Storage Association (ESA) and the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA)
* Published a whitepaper quantifying the economic benefits of standards in PV
* Held our second annual SunSpec Plugfest (participants: of you haven’t gotten the t-shirt, you soon will)

This is a tremendous body of work and I am proud of what we are accomplishing together. Let’s keep it going.
2012 will be another year of high growth for SunSpec, but now our focus will include driving adoption with end users. To that end, I am happy to announce that in addition to leading SunSpec, I have also accepted a new professional assignment. Starting January 1, 2012 I will lead an initiative, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, that has the objective to dramatically reduce the soft costs associated with solar PV installations by establishing best practices and standards nationwide–including SunSpec information standards.

This assignment will will lead me and the other members of the SunSpec Alliance to work with the top 25 U.S. solar PV cities in 2012, and hundreds of additional cities in 2013 and 2014. For more information about this initiative, please see
> http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110920005489/en/SolarTech%E2%80%99s-Solar3.0-Process-Innovation-Platform-Selected-National).
In these dual capacities, I look forward to working with each of you in the years to come.

The agenda for our annual member’s meeting (January 31 and February 1, 2012 in Las Vegas) is shaping up nicely. We anticipate that speakers from the City of Boston, the Electric Power Research Institute, the county of Alameda California, and other PV end users will be participating. We’ll also have a full slate of technical work and time
for networking. Please join us in Las Vegas.

Finally, if there are things that you think the SunSpec Alliance should be doing to grow the market and drive standards, please let me know. I am here to serve you and look forward to your input. (Please note that my phone number has changed as indicated below.)

With kind regards and good wishes for the season,
Tom Tansy
Chairman
SunSpec Alliance
www.sunspec.org

tom@sunspec.org
831-227-1073 (mobile) ***new number, please update your records***
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/tom-tansy/0/113/a78