Tesla’s battery man to give Intersolar North America’s keynote opening

Tesla Energy Powerwall for residential use. Image: Tesla.
The opening keynote address at Intersolar North America next week will be delivered by Tesla’s chief technical officer (CTO) JB Straubel.

Straubel co-founded the EV maker with Elon Musk and sits on the board of SolarCity – again, along with Musk, who is SolarCity’s chairman. He will be joined at the opening ceremony on Monday, 13 July by other solar advocates and policymakers including the head of Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy, Dr. Eicke Weber, California Solar Energy Industries Association (CALSEIA) executive director Bernadette del Chiaro and New York state senator Kevin S. Parker.

While Straubel apparently oversaw the technical and engineering design of Tesla’s vehicle range, he gave a 2014 speech at a Silicon Valley event in which he admitted to being as interested in batteries as cars, if not more so. According to Intersolar North America, Straubel will be introducing Tesla Energy and its range of long-awaited stationary storage products to the solar industry. As with its European counterpart which took place in Munich in June, Intersolar North America will this year feature a greater emphasis on energy storage than before. According to the organisers, Straubel’s speech is expected to reflect this and to focus on storage’s role in enabling greater deployment of solar.

Cover image credit:Solar Promotion International GmbH.