BRADFORD, Pa (PTTP) – From opening the new Duke Engineering and Information Sciences Building in January, to adding two new engineering technology majors this semester, Pitt-Bradford’s Energy Institute is becoming a fifteen-year overnight success. And their latest venture was an inaugural Solar Conference this past Monday, April 10, 2023.
Dr. Matt Kropf, the director of the Energy Institute at Pitt-Bradford, was one of the main organizers of the Solar conference. He said the idea for the conference came from the community itself, since McKeen County has the most acreage undergoing solar energy permit applications currently. Pitt-Bradford’s president Rick Esch had also seen their keynote speaker Tom Murphy, Team Pennsylvania’s senior managing director of strategic energy initiatives, speak about solar development previously.
Once those two pieces of the puzzle came together, the conference started filling out, with presentations from other industry leaders such as Tim Mills from New Leaf Energy, sheep farmer Daniel Dotterer, and Navajo Power. Faculty at Pitt-Bradford also brought forth conversations ranging from an analysis of multi-generational energy plants with Dr. Beth Rezaie, to thinking of the future of communities in relation to energy sustainability with Dr. Julia Morgan.
The conference’s goal was to attract not just faculty and students, but also community members said Dr. Morgan. There was a wide variety of attendees, including local landowners considering solar energy development and a county planner. “We set out to make some unique information about solar available to the public… and we definitely achieved that,” said Dr. Kropf.
To learn more about the presentations from various solar industry leaders and researchers at the Solar conference, go to https://www.upb.pitt.edu/solar-conference-2023 .