On September 21, 2011, Siemens Industry and North Carolina Solar Center will host Solar Exchange East, a free conference for manufacturers and developers of solar power. The event will be held on the North Carolina State University’s campus in Raleigh and will include topics such as the future of solar energy policy, economic development in the South East, trends in smart grid, utility and utility-scale solar projects in the region, the military’s use of solar energy, and more.
Panelists include speakers from the N.C. Solar Center’s Database for State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE) program, the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association, the North Carolina Department of Commerce, FREEDM Center, TUV Rheinland, Henkels and McCoy, Semprius, TechnoSunSolar, Siemens, UL, Inc., FLS Energy, Actus Lend Lease, U.S. Navy Facilities Engineering Command, Sabot 6, and more.
“We’re excited to partner with the North Carolina Solar Center, and look forward to a productive day of discussion about the solar industry with information specifically designed for individuals in this part of the country,” said Richard Myers, senior director of solar vertical markets for Siemens.
This is the third Solar Exchange event. Past conferences were held in conjunction with the University of California, Los Angeles and Arizona State University. A full agenda will be available in late August. More information and registration can be found at here.
The red, white and blue God Bless America 
Imo is part of the Missouri-based family pizza chain Imo’s Pizza, which recycles most of its waste vegetable oil into biodiesel at the High Hill Biofuels, LLC plant in High Hill, Mo. 
“Abengoa has been developing this technology for 10 years, and the project itself has been in the development stages for over 5 years,” said Manuel Sánchez, CEO of Abengoa. “In preparation for construction of the Hugoton project, the company has developed and perfected its proprietary technologies and produced cellulosic ethanol for thousands of hours from laboratory scale, to a biomass pilot plant facility in York, Nebraska, and ultimately from a demonstration scale facility in Salamanca, Spain. As a result, we are very pleased to finally achieve this financing milestone, and we thank the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office for their offer of a conditional commitment, that if realized will allow us to construct one of the first commercial scale biomass conversion plants in the world.”
As part of their ongoing ecological restoration work, The Earth Partners will work with farmers and conservation property landowners to grow and sustainably harvest biomass from land with invasive vegetation or land where restorative plant species are grown. POET will then evaluate the best use of the biomass to generate heat, power or for liquid fuel production.
The initial project will deliver Conservation Biomass to POET Biorefining – Chancellor, a 100 million-gallon-per-year grain ethanol plant in Chancellor, S.D. that burns wood waste and landfill gas in a solid fuel boiler to generate all of its process steam. Burning biomass at the plant to generate power will allow the partnership to test the commercial viability of the Conservation Biomass business model at scale. POET and The Earth Partners will continue to research the potential for utilizing Conservation Biomass sources like prairie grasses for cellulosic ethanol production.
According to GM, the “Cadillac Converj Concept, a dramatic luxury coupe with extended-range electric vehicle technology, is moving forward as a production car that will be called the Cadillac ELR.”