Intersolar & Energy Storage North America (IESNA announced the acquisition of Midwest Solar Expo (MWSE).
Launched in 2016, MWSE was founded and owned by Jake Rozmaryn, chief growth officer at Antenna Group. Rozmaryn will transition into an advisory role and Sharona Kohn will continue as conference director.
Rozmaryn told pv magazine USA that the conference coverage is “pretty broad across residential, C&I, community and utility scale solar, as well as energy storage and other emerging technology areas.” He said the show has typically has around 30 sessions and 80+ speakers with 55 to 60 exhibitors at the last Expo.
The Midwest has several states with ambitious solar targets, with Illinois and Minnesota known to be leaders in solar policy, Minnesota, for example, recently jumped from 23rd for solar capacity up to 16th in the nation for installed solar, which, according to Logan O’Grady, executive director of MnSEIA, is largely due to the success of the state’s first-in-the-nation Community Solar Garden Program that deployed nearly a gigawatt of community scale solar (mostly 1 MW and under) in under ten years.
“The show has tried to be relevant to stakeholders from across the supply chain, such as manufacturers, developers, EPCs, asset owners, financiers, policy leaders, utilities, tech startups, environmental consultants, engineering firms, distributors, etc.,” Rozmaryn said. He added that agrivoltaics is also a strong interest in the Midwest, and that there are weather-related challenges such as cold weather, snow, hail, tornados, etc.
While utility challenges are similar across the country, MWSE has engaged with Xcel and ComEd over the years. Rozmaryn noted that in 2024, ComEd led a forum with developers to address the industry’s biggest concerns and discuss collaborative solutions, “which we saw as a very positive sign for the market,” he said.
According to Rozmaryn, under the Intersolar umbrella, MWSE will have greater marketing and branding opportunities available to exhibitors and sponsors, given the breadth of Intersolar’s network and channels.
“Intersolar’s scale is hugely important and I believe MWSE will greatly benefit from Intersolar’s massive national and global industry network, deep bench of industry, marketing and sales resources to help the show expand, and cross-over with other shows such as Energy Storage North America, and Smart Energy Decisions, which will help us bring more large solar and storage buyers and end-customers into the event,” Rozmaryn said.
With the acquisition, Intersolar gains its second regional event following Intersolar & Energy Storage North America Texas, which launches November 19 to 20, 2024 in Austin. In four years, IESNA conference producer, Diversified Communications, has also added to its clean energy portfolio Energy Storage North America, the Smart Energy Decisions network, Net Zero Forum, and Renewable Energy Forum.
The flagship IESNA event takes place February 25 to 27, 2025, in San Diego, California Midwest Solar Expo will be next held June 9 to 11, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois.
