At the recent Hybrid Energy Innovations (HEI) conference in New York City, various combinations of renewable, conventional and storage configurations were examined for a seemingly endless number of applications. The importance of solar as a generating source at nearly all levels was clear for all to see.

At the utility scale, solar’s growing role was codified in the scale and sophistication of the grid-connected storage envisioned for smoothing its integration. California’s energy storage mandate and New York’s Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) initiative were called out as trend-setting examples of how solar and storage were made for each other. At the grid level, storage is often conceived as sort of a defensive technology that can smooth the spiky profile of solar generation. However, storage under the REV concept is clearly an enabling technology for creating and ensuring the reliability of local generation.

One of the most interesting aspects of the HEI conference is how important solar is for visionaries to realize their plans for improving the environment while building new markets in the process. Solar power featured prominently in the plans of smart building developers and builders of electric vehicle charging networks alike. Above the Arctic Circle and in remote corners of India, authorities are working with developers to deploy solar-plus-storage as a replacement for dirty, expensive and dangerous diesel and kerosene fuels.

The vast majority of the presenters at the HEI conference were only tangentially in the solar business, if at all. Although many had done time in the solar sector, most were only concerned with the viability of their particular projects that, by the way, had a solar component. It was encouraging to be in a room of people that felt neither defensive about solar’s value nor overly protective about solar’s future.

By definition, solar was not the focus of the HEI conference. At the same time, there was a general assumption that solar technology at all scales would not only be available, but would be abundant and cost-competitive in any role envisioned for it. Among the entrepreneurs and innovators, solar is a given.

The solar sector has evolved into a practical field that is the stuff of other people’s dreams.