Words cannot express what an honor it was today to meet Vice President, Kamala Harris, on her visit to the Hanwha/Q-Cells solar panel manufacturing plant in Dalton, Georgia. I was lucky enough to be part of a small group invited to the celebration of this plants expansion. The expansion is, in large part, due to the passing of the bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Solar Energy Manufacturing Act (SEMA) which brings massive growth to local manufacturing, jobs, and economic development.
In her brief remarks, the Vice President gave particular attention to the influx of sales orders to this plant due to the expansion of Community Solar (the projects that are rapidly bringing equal access to discounted off-site electricity to households across the country). Today was a proud day for solar energy in Georgia, and a great day for Community Solar. I’m proud to work for a company that is leading the country in #communitysolar, and building energy, so it is clean, simple and accessible at @nexamp
Also representing,
GeorgiaSEIA & TenneSEIA #gasolar #solarenergy #jobs #manufacturing
These past few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind for me with lots of travel! But I wanted to take a moment and recognize the spectacular trip I had out to our annual solar and storage conference ( @replusevents ) held in Las Vegas in September. This is the largest gathering of solar and storage professionals in the nation, with over 38,000 attendees for 2025!
Without a doubt, the high point of the event was participating in the fundraiser event for Georgia’s Senator, Senator Jon Ossoff.
As most of you would gather, our industry has faced significant headwinds in Congress recently, and it is important that we support those elected officials who represent an industry that brings the lowest cost of energy to the US economy, along with millions of green collar jobs in manufacturing and construction.
☀️🔋📸
1: With Senator Jon Ossoff at his fundraiser!
2: As the President of GeorgiaSEIA, here I am at the SEIA (Solar Energy Industries Association) State Affiliate Meet-up with other state leaders!
3: With my friend and colleague, Jamie Barber, Director, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Unit at the Georgia Public Service Commission, and her husband Jeff at the annual RE+ Block Party.
4: Sizing up a Tesla humanoid on the show floor!
5: With my friends and colleagues, Gil Hough (ED of TenneSEIA), and PJ Wilson (ED of Puerto Rico SEIA)!
6: With my friend and colleague from Nexamp, Felix Aguayo!
7: With my friend and colleague, Goksi
Ozturkeri, w/ GS Power Partners.
8: Checking out the Honda Motocompacto, on the shows expo floor
9: Holding meetings on the patio at The Wynn
10: Checking out the latest technologies for rooftop solar, like this one w/ with Darin from Rocking Solar!
11: The Sen. Ossoff Fundraiser poster!
2025. This year is flying by in the blink of an eye.
Maybe that’s why I haven’t been posting much here. Or maybe it’s because this has been one of the busiest years of my life, and social media often takes a back seat when the real work is happening.
We all have our own relationship with social media. Some love it, some loathe it. But it’s clear these platforms are more than just places to post selfies. They’re where we speak our purpose and share our perspective. And in times like these, the solar industry needs voices more than ever. We need to stand together and speak the truth about clean energy.
In that spirit, I want to share a major milestone from earlier this year.
In March 2025, I was elected President of the Georgia Solar Energy Industries Association.
GeorgiaSEIA is Georgia’s leading solar energy advocacy nonprofit.
We work on regulatory policy at the Georgia Public Service Commission, representing consumers to ensure clean, affordable solar is adopted by utilities.
We also engage at the Georgia General Assembly, working with lawmakers to draft and advocate for policies that bring solar energy directly to Georgians and reduce their power bills.
I joined the solar industry in 2008, just as solar became the fastest growing, most affordable, and safest form of energy in the U.S.
Yes, solar has received support through tax credits and grants. But so has every major American industry, energy or otherwise.
GeorgiaSEIA, along with our national partner SEIA in Washington, fights for solar’s place in the U.S. energy future.
We stand with those who want cleaner air, water, food, and a better tomorrow.
It’s the right thing to do. And the time is now.
Testified this week on our ‘Georgia Homegrown Solar Act’ Bill down at the Georgia Legislator in both the House and the Senate where we got 4 committee hearings over the past two weeks!
This bill is the first step in the creation of a ‘Community Solar’ Program for The State of Georgia’s Regulated Utilities.
What does that mean?
Community Solar is a way for consumers and other utility customers to access solar energy without any upfront costs, without the installation on their roofs, and it is a perfect remedy to renters, low-income communities, and folks with no space for solar.
Companies like @nexamp will develop and build solar farms in rural areas taking up to 30 acres each/6MW (in this case). Then they are able to sell subscriptions to consumers which provides them with at much as 10 or even 20% savings on their regular utility accounts! ( that’s along with clean energy!) These saving are meaningful to energy burdened communities as well as commercial customers with high usage, and tax-exempt organizations like schools, churches, and public entities.
Thank you to all those supporting this legislation, particularly our leading bill sponsors,
Senator Jason Anavitarte (District 31), & Beth Camp- Georgia State Rep (District 135) As well as my industry cohorts at the Georgia Solar Energy Industries Association #GASEIA , Coalition for Community Solar Access #CCSA , Southern Alliance for Clean Energy #SACE, & Southern Environmental Law Center #SELC
Yesterday, I lost my favorite human, but gained an angel. Please keep my Mumma in your prayers.
Patricia Fitzpatrick 1943-2023
Ceremony details to follow in the next few days. Happy to be here in Chicago today with family. Love to all 💕🙏💫
And that’s a wrap @replusevents !!
This year was nothing short of fantastic and also a little overwhelming due to the sheer growth our industry has experienced over the past few years. This year the event entertained over 40,000 attendees (wow! up 43% from last year!! ) The reason for this, in large part, to the explosion of the industry with the introduction of the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) bill fueling the growth of US clean energy device manufacturing, jobs, and equitable access to discounted clean energy.
Every year brings the challenge of balancing your schedule at this event, but there is simply too much to handle. From the many panels to watch to the expansive expo floor; from meeting with partners to the many opportunities to build on industry relationships across the entire country. This week we made deals, brainstormed on new business and policy, and discussed how we need to responsibly move our industry forward.
Thank you to those that made time for me! It was so great to see so many familiar faces! I always leave with a sense that I have not accomplished enough, but I know what I did get out of it will keep me more than busy for the next year!
Congrats and thank you to the event organizers!
#replus #re+ #solarenergy #solarplusstorage #energystorage #evcharging #demandresponse #solarpolicy @tenneseia #georgiaseia #seia #sepa
What a great day for solar in Georgia! Today the Georgia Solar Energy Industries Association held a solar policy forum entitled ‘The State of Solar in Georgia - A Policy and Economic Forum” in cooperation with Conservatives Energy Network, and The Georgia Solar Energy Association @gasolarenergy as well as @georgiawand & @parkerpoelaw at @georgiatech ‘s @kendedabuilding
As Co-chair of Policy at the Georgia Solar Energy Industries Association, It was my pleasure to welcome so many esteemed colleagues, lawmakers and press to this important event to talk about how far we have gotten, and the opportunities ahead.
In Georgia, there are over 5,000 people working in the solar energy industry, and with over 200 companies based here, it is important that we keep their business here, promote new jobs and distribute economic development across the state.
Georgia has been a leader in large utility scale solar, but we lack opportunities for community solar, rooftop solar, and opportunities to allow consumers to tap into solar energy savings.
Special thank you to Drew Kann w/ @ajcnews for moderating the panels, and to all our panelists who joined us today!
#gosolar #gasolar & #communitysolar by @nexamp
I can’t close the book on last week without a few honorable mentions. Last week, the southeast solar industry met for our annual RE+ Southeast Solar Conference in Atlanta. It was great to see so many industry leaders and discuss ways we can move the clean energy needle forward in the Southeast states.
Did you know there are over 5,000 people in Georgia working in the solar energy industry! And that does not include all of the supporting rules, such as legal, engineering, manufacturing, developers, utilities and lawmakers 😲
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Here we are outside after the first day of sessions w/ Abby Hopper, SEIA National’s President and CEO who works tirelessly on capital hill not only expanding solar policy, but also protecting it from those looking to unwind our progress. To the far right, I’m pleased to introduce Claire Dockman, Nexamp’s newest member of the Southeast Business Development Team.
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Here I am, with Scott Thomasson, attorney with Sunselt Strategies, providing the Georgia policy update to a mostly packed room . A lot of the discussion was around the upcoming Georgia Power RFP, as well as up-and-coming clean energy bills at the Georgia Legislature.
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Tuesday night, GeorgiaSEIA held a pre-conference reception to welcome all the out-of-town’ers, local industry and elected officials. It was a massive success!
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My friend and board associate, Gil Hough, presenting the Tennessee state briefing together with TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority). Gil is the Executive Director the Tennessee Solar Energy Industries Association, where I serve as Vise President. It was refreshing to hear of TVA massive clean energy goal and how they are working with local industry to reach them!
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These are the sponsors of the pre-reception on Tuesday night! Thank you so much for the support! @solamerica_energy@nexamp@greenclean_solar@soltage@kimleyhorn #thompsonhinelaw
Great to catch up with my friend Brent Bailey (Mississippi Public Service Commissioner) last night in Jackson. It’s always a rewarding visit discussing how Nexamp can support the state in its transition to clean, economical, and reliable energy resources.
Remember, it’s election time for the MS PSC so please put your support ( and dollars) behind one of the hardest working Commissioners I know, @pscbrentbailey
This morning, it was a pleasure to moderate a panel at the TenneSEIA Annual Conference in Knoxville on Creative Approaches to TVA’s Local Power Company Generation Flexibility.
W/ Panelists, Betsey Kirk-McCall w/ Seven States Power Corp, Jamie Bach w/ @tva & Brian Taylor w/ @cdelightband
Thank you to everyone for joining us today for such a meaningful discussion on pushing clean energy forward in TVA!
@nexamp #tenneseia
Spoke today in Miami at the RE+ Florida Event about Community Solar in the Sunshine State!
Thank you!!
Moderator: Justin Vandenbroeck w/ ESA Solar
+ Jada Sherman w/ Solar United Neighbors
+ Bryan Jacobs with SACE
Pleased to represent the expansion of @nexamp and #CommunitySolar
#solarunitedneighbors
#SouthernAllianceforCleanEnergy #esasolar
@replusevents@flaseia@solarindustry@sepapower
