Episode Summary:
In this episode, Sharon Lee talks with Kelly Pickerel, the editor-in-chief of Solar Power World, about Kelly’s perspective on how the solar industry has become a more inclusive and diverse place for women and young people. Kelly tells us about how by being editor-in-chief she has always tried to combine her 11-year knowledge of the solar industry and journalism to make the industry a place where everyone can thrive. Kelly also emphasizes how and why the solar industry has become a kind of magnet for women and how she is willing to reinforce that trend.
Insights from this Episode:
- Kelly’s life and childhood
- How Kelly landed the solar industry
- Kelly’s trajectory in the solar industry
- How Kelly has balanced giving mentorship to new hires and her own formation
- Why women are attracted to the Solar Industry
- Mentorship outside the solar power walls
- The Solar Power World magazine and its purpose
- The different matters that are treated on the Webinar
- What is the Top Contractors List
- What can be expected from the Top Contractors Gala after virtuality
Quotes from the Show:
- “I’ve been in the industry for over eleven years now and solar has been my real main focus so it’s kind of exciting to have this magazine journalism background”– Kelly Pickerel in “The Sunnyside Podcast”
- “We try to include more women in our stock images on our site so if we got generic news going out about solar being installed in Georgia…we try to have women being in the picture installing the panels because we know they’re out there doing that ”– Kelly Pickerel in “The Sunnyside Podcast”
- “[About the Solar Power World magazine] Our main mission is to provide those readers with information that will help them do their jobs better today…to be able to give them tips on how to grow the industry, how to grow themselves”– Kelly Pickerel in “The Sunnyside Podcast”
- “[About the Solar Industry] We really promote each other, we want to make sure we’re growing the industry as a whole, we’re not trying to backstab people, we just want to make sure we’re getting more solar on the ground and on roofs”– Kelly Pickerel in “The Sunnyside Podcast”
Episode transcript:
Sharon Lee:
Welcome to The Sunny Side, the podcast that makes solar energy relatable, accessible, and attainable. Join us as we journey behind the scenes with women taking amazing strides in all parts of the solar industry. I’m your host, Sharon Lee, and thank you for joining us today.
Hi, and welcome to The Sunny Side. This is our December edition, our last edition in 2022, and I couldn’t tell you how excited I am about this guest. However, before we get to that, let’s talk a little bit about Sharon’s Corner, what I’ve been up to since our last podcast back in November.
So in that podcast we talked about RE+ and our trip to Anaheim, great solar event, and we’ll maybe dive into that a little bit in this discussion as well. But we also had our inaugural launch of our local Empowered Women’s Group. This is in Atlanta. We met on the beltline. And so we recently, just last week, had our second meeting of this group, and I just, once again, can’t say how excited I am about just being surrounded by these women in the industry. They are powerful leaders. They are from the utility sector. They’re from the renewable sector, from all over this sector, but we’re all networking, working together, collaborating together, and getting to know one another. And I think that there’s nothing wrong with that. So anyway, I’m really excited to see where that group is going to go.
Also, in the last month, I attended the South Carolina Manufacturing Expo. I had never been there before, and I was really thrilled to see the amount of participation there and that sort of thing. Velo had a booth there in the exhibit hall, and we met some fantastic folks. And on the last day of the show, they had a Women in Manufacturing session, and it was really exciting. So I, of course, had to attend. They had a panel of female manufacturing executives, and they were sharing their individual stories, their challenges, their successes, perspectives. It was really inspiring.
In fact, when I was leaving, I was going back to the exhibit hall, and this man stopped me, and I must have had this goofy grin on my face. And he said, “You just look inspired.” And I thought, “Wow, I am inspired.” So anyway, I’ll leave it at that, but it was a great event and a great way to lead us into the end of this year. So with that, I’m going to turn it over to the December edition here where I am going to welcome Kelly Pickerel. She is the editor in chief of Solar Power World, and I’m really excited to talk to her today. So we are happy to have you on The Sunny Side, Kelly.
Kelly Pickerel:
Hi, Sharon. Thanks so much for having me. It’s been really great to get to know you in person. We’ve been email buddies for a very long time, so getting to talk with you has been great.
Sharon Lee:
Absolutely. I know. Isn’t it funny? Because I feel like I’ve known you forever, but yes, in person, it’s a totally different story. This is really cool. But it’s funny, because Solar Power World has such a great name in this industry, has done some fantastic things. But I feel like before we get into what Solar Power World is and all of that, I feel like we need to get some perspective on Kelly and hear really about your background and how in the world you landed where you are right now.
Kelly Pickerel:
So I grew up in northwest Ohio in a town, it’s called Fremont, Ohio. It’s the home of the 19th president of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes. So that’s our claim to fame. But I always really enjoyed writing, even as a young child. I remember sitting with my mom’s typewriter and writing these little stories about this girl named Alicia who loved cookies. They were so childish. But it was really nice because my family, my parents really encouraged my writing. And so I think it’s no surprise that I decided to go to college for journalism. And I went to Kent State University in northeast Ohio and majored in magazine journalism. Within journalism, I tried out newspapers, I tried out television, but I really just loved writing, and magazines was where I wanted to be at.
But maybe because I grew up in a smaller town, Cleveland was the biggest city that I really wanted to tackle. And magazines are very obviously big in New York City or LA or somewhere like that, and I really just did not want to move to those areas. So I took the first job out of college at any magazine in the Cleveland area, and I ended up at a construction magazine. It was a company that had a few construction publications, and they already had a alternative power construction related magazine. So within their construction focus, they thought a magazine that looked at how to build hydropower or how to build wind farms or solar farms would be something that they could tack into. And they thought solar was really where the focus was going within renewable energy and things like that.
So they gave the newbie a brand new magazine, and I was the founding editor of the magazine called Solar Builder, and they just gave it to me and said, “All right, let’s see how to make this work.” So it was really a one-person operation. I was learning everything on my own. Nobody really had experience with renewable energy there, so I really had to learn everything. But I’m happy that that’s where I ended up within renewable energy. I think out of all the other construction publications at this company, they were doing stuff on water, wastewater, utility installations, or trenchless technology, things that maybe aren’t as exciting as renewable energy. So I’m glad that I got to do something within solar.
It’s become just my career focus now. I’ve been in the industry for over 11 years now, and solar has been my real main focus. So it’s exciting that I have this magazine journalism background. I definitely had that journalism background, but then my expertise has really now been in solar. That’s been my focus. So that’s been really, really exciting. So after Solar Builder, I moved over to Solar Power World, I think, about eight years ago. It’s funny that there are two solar magazines in the Cleveland area. You would never think that Ohio would be this mecca for solar power journalism, but it turned out that it is.
It’s been great to move over to Solar Power World because now I have two other editors on my team. I have a lot of support. We support each other in learning and making sure we are covering the industry as best we can. And so to be able to not be by myself asking myself questions to know if I’m right, it’s been great with Solar Power World. We’re very unique because we’re all women run. Our marketing team is all women. Our advertising department is all women. Myself and Kelsey Misbrener are editors. We have one man on staff. It’s Billy Ludt. He’s our senior editor, but otherwise it’s all women. It’s great to have Billy there, but it is also incredibly empowering to have this team around me that is all women, and we’re supporting each other within solar and putting out this great product. So it’s been really great to not only get the support behind me, just in general having people around me, but then to have it all be women, it’s been really empowering.
Sharon Lee:
Absolutely. And it’s funny being from Atlanta, I would say bless Billy’s heart.
Kelly Pickerel:
I know. He puts up with a lot. So good for him.
Sharon Lee:
That’s right. You have to get him a good Christmas present or a good holiday gift.
Kelly Pickerel:
Exactly.
Sharon Lee:
Oh, I love it. I love it. And you say these two solar magazines from little bitty Cleveland, but the reality is these are nationally-distributed, glossy, beautiful publications that, I don’t want to say don’t look like they came from Cleveland, because I don’t know what a magazine from Cleveland looks like. You can help me out here, but they are well done, high quality. Kudos to you all.
Kelly Pickerel:
We don’t really promote that. It promotes itself. When you go to trade shows and there’s the bin of different industry publications, it’s a little bit of a brag, but I think that ours looks the best because we put a lot of effort into it, and it looks like a really, really good magazine. We make sure that we include people in our photos, in our covers. We always try to have people on our covers, and I think that makes it look a lot more mainstream, and it’s so exciting to … I’ve always wanted to work at a magazine, but then to be able to work at a magazine that’s really exciting about solar and then to have it really look good, I never thought that this would happen to me in Ohio, but it’s been really great.
Sharon Lee:
Well, and the fact that you’ve had to learn everything you’ve learned on your own. When you were at Solar Builder, you were the whole face of the publication and that sort of thing. So how does that shape the way that you go about mentoring new hires or working on continuing education yourself and that sort of thing?
Kelly Pickerel:
I think when Billy came on our staff, he came with just a newspaper background. He worked at a local newspaper, so he came into the solar industry really blind, but we brought him on because he had that great journalism background. And so we knew he would do really well, but I made sure that I gave him a crash course in solar. I didn’t want to just have any new editors, anybody come in and have to learn everything on their own. I think that comes with me also now having a decade in the industry. I think I should be using my knowledge for good and making sure that the rest of our team knows what’s going on. I don’t ever want people to have questions that they can’t have answered. So I think that’s great to be able to help our younger editors, give them that guidance.
And I think also just within our company, we have a number of other publications. My company, WTWH Media, we do a lot with medical design, a lot of engineering-based publications. And so even though those publications aren’t within renewable energy, I still think it’s important to talk with other younger editors, mentor them, give them the ways of the land. I have a monthly coffee date with a lot of the women in our company, and we just talk about ways that we can promote ourselves at the company and just make sure that we’re doing really good journalism and making sure that we get representation out there.
I think that one thing within solar specifically, we try to include more women in our stock images on our site. So if we have a generic news going out about solar being installed in Georgia or something, we try to have women being in the picture installing the panels because we know that they’re out there doing that. And if we just keep promoting the same picture of that one guy on the roof, it’s not being a good representation of what’s actually happening in an industry. So I also encourage everyone in our company to get more women in pictures. That’s something that’s so simple to do within journalism.
Sharon Lee:
Well, and it’s interesting that you say it’s simple to do because that truly is correct. This industry has attracted women from all parts of the industry. I don’t think it’s a stretch to think that a female would go into journalism, by any stretch of the imagination. Females going into construction journalism or solar journalism or renewables journalism is a new way of thinking, I guess, and that sort of thing. And the fact that you can incorporate these women in photos, boots on the ground and all kinds of different things. Or maybe they are making a policy presentation to their public service commission or something like that, lobbying in DC for new laws that are coming on board. It’s not a stretch to find women in those roles, and so it’s great that you are making a conscious effort to capture them. But at the same time, why do you feel that women are attracted to Solar Power World in the renewables field? What have you found?
Kelly Pickerel:
I think solar and renewable energy, I think it’s a very feel good industry. It’s inviting for women. It’s accepting for women to be involved. I can remember when I first started my career and going to construction trade shows, there weren’t a lot of women there. And it was like women were only in marketing positions if they were at these shows, and I’m sure you remember there were booth babes and things like that.
And I remember going to a wastewater conference and just being one of only a handful of women, and that’s when I was like, I really don’t want to report for this kind of industry because it’s just not accepting. And so moving into solar, it is great that I see so many women at these trade shows, like you said, giving presentations on policy. There are women out installing solar panels. We have the pictures to prove it. I think that solar is just a great industry. It’s making a difference in the world. We all want to be green. We’re just very accepting. And I think it’s very inviting for women to join this industry. Like I said, we could be working in wastewater, and that’s not exciting.
Sharon Lee:
Not exciting, absolutely. But I do think that the attraction of women to this field is not going to change. And I think that we as leaders, if you will, in this field, are doing our part to make that more accepting. Look at Abby Hopper for example, with SEIA. She routinely pulls women onto panels. She pulls women into events and that sort of thing. You are going beyond Solar Power World and into your other publications and pulling out those women editors and trying to lift them up and collaborate and that sort of thing. And so again, I just think that that’s fantastic, but I think it’s our mentality, and that puts a lot of pressure on us to continue that and make sure that we are lifting those people up and bringing them right there with us and continuing that inspiration and that sort of thing. But now what have you seen about mentorship outside of the Solar Power World walls?
Kelly Pickerel:
We definitely encourage networking within Solar Power World, so I encourage our co-editors, everybody to get out there and just promote themselves, get involved with different groups. And recently I presented to, it’s called the Clean Energy Leadership Institute. It’s this fellowship program of people within clean energy, and they just want to learn more and be able to promote themselves within the general public and elsewhere. I gave a presentation on how to publish an op-ed, and I explained to them how to get published, what kind of publications you could reach out to. At the end of it, I just made myself available, said, “You might be trying to pitch your op-eds to more mainstream news like the New York Times, but I work for a solar-focused publication, but you can always ask me questions. We just want to make sure that we get these good stories out there.”
And so I found that a lot of the women were reaching out after the fact and providing stories on diversity. It seems to be a very important topic for women to get out there into the general public. And so we didn’t really mean to form a group of women that are coming together talking about these issues, but it organically happened. And I think that wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t try to network myself into all of these different groups. And so I think that’s really important that it seems that women are coming together to support themselves without being asked to do that, so that was really a great experience to have.
Sharon Lee:
That’s right. And generally when women get together, you do find that support network and that sort of thing. There is that camaraderie and all that stuff, but we also make it fun.
Kelly Pickerel:
Exactly. I hear you. You’re going out and having drinks and doing all kinds of stuff.
Sharon Lee:
Exactly. So there’s a good balance, and I think that’s just part of the way we roll, and I think that’s fantastic. At the very beginning of this podcast, I said, “Kelly Pickerel is the editor-in-chief of Solar Power World, and we’ll get to what Solar Power World is.” And guess what? We haven’t gotten to what Solar Power World is yet. So let’s dive into a little bit about the publication itself. So how would you describe it?
Kelly Pickerel:
So Solar Power World, we are a bi-monthly print magazine, so that means we print an issue every two months, so we have six issues per year. But we are doing breaking news online. We have tons of news going out online. We’re doing all the social media. We’re doing newsletters, product spotlights, all kinds of things. Our audience is largely, it’s the solar installer, so that’s from residential solar installers on up to utility scale, doing all the big solar farms. So our main mission is to provide those readers with information that will help them do their jobs better today. And so I think that we don’t have that general public audience, but we do get some of those readers. But I think it’s nice to have that focus of the installer to be able to give them tips on how to grow the industry, how to grow themselves. And it’s really great to be working at a trade publication. To have that kind of focus has been really great.
Sharon Lee:
That’s right, and a good source of information where there’s not a lot of resources. As I have spoken with a number of folks that have come on The Sunny Side, we have talked about how so many people fell into the solar industry. You fell into the solar industry. I fell into it. And there’s very few people that saw it … Instead of you writing your articles on cookies, you’re not finding that six-year-old that’s sitting there [inaudible 00:18:14]. Not yet. We can only hope that that’s going to be different down the road.
But it is true. It’s nice to know that you have that go-to resource that is unbiased and it’s out there and trying to make the industry better as a whole. And so I am always interested in your educational arm and what you’re trying to do to lift this whole industry up and that sort of thing. And I know you have some webinars that you do and that sort of thing. Can you talk about some of the topics that you have done, maybe some of the things that you’re planning for 2023? Wherever you want to go with this. I’m just curious about it.
Kelly Pickerel:
So we produce webinars. We do a lot of product focus webinars. I think it’s good to have an inverter company come on and explain how their product is used in certain situations. I think it’s nice to have a place to be able to go to for that. So we do a lot of that. We’re doing a lot of educational webinars, especially coming into 2023, around the Inflation Reduction Act. Because even though there’s a lot of information that still hasn’t been finalized, we’re still waiting for the Treasury Department to give us the go ahead on a lot of the incentives and just everything that’s going to be coming in there, we want to make sure that there is a trustworthy educational site that people can come to for the latest information on the IRA.
And so we’re going to be doing a lot of webinars explaining the manufacturing tax credits that are available or all of the adders that you can add on to these solar projects to get costs down and things like that. I think it’s important for us to be that place in the industry where people can come and know that they’re getting actual true information that doesn’t have a slant toward a certain product manufacturer or anything like that.
Sharon Lee:
Right. I think that’s fantastic. These are relevant. You’re staying right on top of this, and as the information is coming out, you’re trying to put the information out so that we can all know more about it. I keep saying that as I’m trying to learn more about the Inflation Reduction Act and that sort of thing, I keep hearing, “But that isn’t finalized yet. But that isn’t finalized yet.” I’m like, “Oh, I’m as much of an authority as anybody else. Great.”
Kelly Pickerel:
Exactly.
Sharon Lee:
It’s always nice to know that there’s a place to put your finger on the pulse and know that yes, if there’s information to be out there, it’s there. So I’m shifting gears here, but one thing that Solar Power World is known for is the top contractors list. All of the contractors in the industry are waiting to see what number, where they end up and that sort of thing. So tell us a little bit about how that started and just about the list in general.
Kelly Pickerel:
So we are known for our top solar contractors list. In 2023, it’ll be our 12th edition of the list, which just seems crazy. But it’s been so much fun every year to pull it together. I think the industry has really embraced this list because it is fact-based, because we rank installers based on the kilowatts they installed the previous year. And we verify that. We check all of those numbers to make sure that nobody’s lying about how much they installed. But I think that’s good. It’s not opinion-based. It’s not based on who’s spending advertising dollars with us. I think that’s really important that it’s really a fact-based list.
And we compile those rankings each year, and we split it up into different categories. We do based on states, so we rank everybody that’s installing in Georgia or everybody installing in Colorado. We do based on market, so we have residential lists, we have utility lists, commercial lists, things like that. It’s been really great to see it grow. When we started 12 years ago, it was just a top 100 list, and then we moved into top 250, then 400, then 500. And so it’s amazing to be able to see how the industry has grown along with this list.
Sharon Lee:
And now it’s just the top because you can’t rectify it to 400 or wherever.
Kelly Pickerel:
We do rank upwards of 500 each year, but as you know, there’s a lot of mergers every year and new companies coming in. And so we didn’t want to put a specific number on it because we could go way past 500. We just want to make sure we do all of the top solar contractors. But it’s been a really great marketing tool for installers because they’re ranked nationally, but they’re also ranked by state and by market. So while the big guys, SOLV Energy or Mortenson or Cyprus Creek, all of those big companies are obviously going to be in the top 10 every year. They’re battling for the top installation spot. But we make it so that all of these mom-and-pop shops in smaller markets, they’re still able to market themselves. Yes, they may be number 412 on the main list, but they could be number two in their state. And that’s a better marketing opportunity for them to say to their actual customers that this magazine, that this industry resource has said that we are a top installer in our market, and here are the facts that back that up.
Sharon Lee:
Well, and something that I always look forward to is the greenest contractor, for example, the most forward-thinking contractor. Some of those that are a little bit more on the ancillary side may be more subjective and that sort of thing, but there’s always a great story. And so you all do a great job of telling that story. So how did that come about?
Kelly Pickerel:
So even though it is a fact-based list, we do stand behind that. It was based on numbers. We did want to give a few outside opinion-based awards, and that is voted on by our editorial team, so we just look at that. But we have a greenest contractor, and it’s called most forward thinking contractor. We look at that as the most innovative contractor. It’s been a way for companies to then submit more feel good information about themselves, and those are some really, really great awards.
And we also just recently started individual awards, looking at people rather than companies. And so we have the top solar advocate, and we have a actual top solar designer. So we’re able to look at maybe some of the people in a company that aren’t on that C suite, that C level of the company that don’t get a lot of recognition, but they should.
And so those have been really, really great stories that we’ve been able to promote. There’s been a lot of women involved in those stories, obviously a lot of the top solar advocate, just these people who are out doing good policy work and should be recognized. And so those are nominated by companies, and then we choose who we think has been doing the best job. And those have been really great stories. To be able to talk to people about things that they’re passionate about, that’s been really fun to do with the top seller contractors list.
Sharon Lee:
For sure. In years past, there used to be a gala associated to unveil the big list and all of these other ancillary things that went with it, and everybody dressed up, and there were pretty little awards and great food and all that. And then the world went virtual.
Kelly Pickerel:
Exactly.
Sharon Lee:
So maybe I’m guessing there’s probably still a lot of interest in the virtual side of things, but there’s something to be said for getting dressed up and seeing your award. So what is the direction for the gala, if there is, going forward?
Kelly Pickerel:
So the top seller contractors gala, it’s been a really great opportunity for installers to just celebrate themselves and come in, and the open bar does not hurt. And we usually host the event around Solar Power International, now called RE+, that show. So people are already coming together to talk about solar, to learn about solar, but then to celebrate just installers has been really, really fun. But we have gone virtual since, what has it been now, three years that we’ve done virtual? And we still try to keep it exciting. We still think there’s opportunity. It’s necessary to still celebrate what’s going on in the industry and the installations that are being done.
Sharon Lee:
I didn’t mean to interrupt you. I have sat in on the virtual side of things and you think, great, are they going to just read 500 names? Am I waiting for number 499 or whatever? But you guys break it up, and each of you has your say. Or you have found a way to at least make it entertaining when that could be a little bit not entertaining.
Kelly Pickerel:
Yes, thank you for saying that because you wouldn’t think that doing videos would be stressful, but planning those out, trying to make it not boring. And we called out some of the specific markets that we knew. There’s a lot of popularity around that. And then being able to talk about those individual awards, like the greenest contractor, and show pictures of how they’re green and things like that on the video has been really fun. So we’ll still probably continue doing virtual galas as a first look for people on the list the day before the list goes live on our website, just to give them a preview of where they are. But we are hoping in 2023, we’re going to be back in person for a gala, so that will be really exciting.
We’re planning a happy hour. It’ll definitely be around the RE+ show again, but just to be able to bring installers and developers and everybody together. Everybody always says it’s a really, really great party because even though everyone is a competitor, they’re all very welcoming to talking about what they’re doing in their markets and how they can help. I think that is something about the solar industry. We really promote each other. We want to make sure that we’re growing the industry as a whole. We’re not trying to back stab people. We just want to make sure that we’re getting more solar in the ground and on roofs. And so I think that the gala is a great opportunity to encourage those conversations and make those connections. So we’re real excited to be back at it in 2023.
Sharon Lee:
Fantastic. And that will be at RE+, right. So you went to RE+ this year back in person as well, so I’m sure it was a whirlwind there. It was crazy. I heard there was over 22,000 people in attendance. The vibe was pretty electric. I just really think that people were excited to be back together and talking solar and talking renewables and that sort of thing. Were there things that stood out for you, whether it was sessions or products or whatever, people? Tell me what your take on RE+ was.
Kelly Pickerel:
I thought it was really just reinvigorating. I personally had not been on an airplane since before the pandemic, but no solar shows, no interactions whatsoever for over two years before that. So it was just to have that many people around and everyone being excited about the same thing, it felt like I was at a rock concert. Everyone was just so excited. So that was really, really great. I went to a few educational sessions. Obviously, there were a lot of people talking about the IRA and just what the future of the industry is, so that was really great.
But like everyone else, I went to a lot of vendor booths looking at new products. I hadn’t seen a lot of these products before. Before the pandemic, everything was very traditional. We had 60-cell solar panels, 72-cell solar panels. Everything was in those two categories. And now we have solar panels that are all over the map. We have huge solar panels, we have wide solar panels, long solar panels. So that was really great to see up close, just to see how big these solar panels actually are. I’m five foot two on a good day, and those solar panels were taller than me. I just cannot believe how big things have gotten. But I think it’s important to see those things because it’s affecting the rest of the industry.
If we have different sized solar panels, we need to have different sized mounting systems. We need to know how to install these systems. Can one person carry these modules? Do we need two people to carry them? So to be able to see those products up close, that was really interesting to me. And that’s where my focus is going into the next year is, how can we provide tips for those installers on how to work with these new products that we all got to see for the first time at this show? So it was really great to see those products up close.
Sharon Lee:
Right. Well, and you’re so right about you have one thing that changes maybe and have this huge panels or different sized panels and the ripple effect of all of those other things that have to change, and even down to engineering or monitoring after the fact. I interviewed Alex with Watch in my last episode, and we were just talking about that. That was a non-issue. And then all of a sudden, it’s becoming very, very relevant because people are owning multiple sites or things are just getting so much more sophisticated and that sort of thing. And it sounds complicated, but the reality is there are options for you, and you just have to know what they are. So go to Solar Power World and learn about them.
Kelly Pickerel:
Exactly. Like you said, software is going to be changing because it has to input different things. So it affects everything and how you engineer projects. So it’s definitely going to be changing the industry.
Sharon Lee:
And so you’ve gotten on one plane in the last few years, and now you’ve got the travel bug. So let’s see, you’re also going to be going to Intersolar this year, right?
Kelly Pickerel:
Yeah, that trade show, it’s in January, and it’s in Southern California, I believe Long Beach. So that’s another really interesting show. It’s smaller than RE+, so it’ll be a little bit more manageable, but it’s still going to be any new products that are coming out for the next year. There’s also this really cool event that they put on. It’s called the Solar Games, where they have different installation teams installing solar on a mock roof, and so they are competing and seeing who can install the fastest, but then also the best, the most accurate, everything is correct.
And so Solar Power World has been involved with the Solar Games the past few years, and my co-editor, Kelsey Misbrener, she has almost emceed the event one year and just talking to the installers. So that’s just another just really cool competition that’s based on fact, again. You are competing on how to install stuff. So we’re really, really happy to be involved in that. And just like you said, being able to travel and go to shows, it’s just really exciting. After 11 years, I thought that maybe solar would start to get boring, but I’m reinvigorated. I’m still excited to write about the industry. So things are going to be great in 2023.
Sharon Lee:
It’s one thing to see something on the screen. It’s another to be live and in person and seeing it right there in front of you. So let’s go back just a little bit more and talk about the Inflation Reduction Act. So I don’t know if there’s anything more that you want to share about planning for that or anything like that. I keep reiterating the fact that this is now law. We talk about so many bills, so many possibilities, so many things that are coming. And I know that there are still so many things that need to get nailed down, but it’s law. This is finally adding some longevity to our industry and giving us something to build on. So I’m not sure that I have a real question that I’m asking right there. But is there more that you’re trying to explore with this new law, and where are you wanting to go with that for next year?
Kelly Pickerel:
Like you said, it is law, which is so comforting because we just went through recent midterm elections and how that changes the makeup of our federal government, and there aren’t concerns that this could be overturned. Everything is moving forward. We just have to figure out the fine details of how to release these incentives and then do all of that. So we just recently, the November 2022 issue of Solar Power World, we had a special policy focus on what’s going on with the IRA that we can confidently report on now. And so we have a lot of really great basic stories that are important. Now available to the solar industry, you can choose the production tax credit instead of the investment tax credit. So when do you choose the PTC? When do you choose the ITC? This is something that the solar industry hasn’t had to deal with before. And so just providing information on that.
We know about manufacturing tax credits. It’s going to lead to a resurgence of solar panel manufacturing in the United States. So covering that, but then even mounting manufacturing. My co-editor, Billy Ludt, he actually traveled to a Nextracker manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania to look at how they’re making things and how that’s being changed because of the incentives and the IRA. So we’re trying to do as much as we can around that. As soon as the Treasury Department releases more information, we’ll get the latest news out there. We’re doing trends in our January 2023 issue, so we’ll make sure that we’re covering it. Like I said, we’re doing those editorial webinars. We want to make sure that we’re that trustworthy place to come to get the information about what’s happening in the industry. So we’re going to be busy.
Sharon Lee:
We are definitely going to be busy, and we’ll definitely keep an eye out as things are getting nailed down. But so on a totally different subject, a little bit more lighthearted. So when you’re not researching and interviewing or writing about solar, what do you do for fun? Tell us what you do time in your quote, free time.
Kelly Pickerel:
That’s so funny. I did get on a plane a second time. I went and traveled to Heliene’s. They’re a solar panel manufacturer in Minnesota, and they just had a ribbon cutting on a new manufacturing plant, and so I did go attend that. So that was really cool. And someone there asked me what I did in my free time, and I was like, “Read about solar. All I do is solar.” But no, I got really into gardening this year. I tried to start a garden early pandemic, and it’s now been a few years. I think I finally got my green thumb. I eat a salad every day, and so to be able to have my own lettuce in it, it was crazy. For almost four months, I didn’t have to go to the grocery store for produce. So that was really great. So being able to get out and have those hobbies and everything, that’s been really fun.
But otherwise, just hanging out with friends. I have a one-year-old nephew who I adore, and actually I’m coming off of a cold right now because I went and saw him, and babies are germ monsters. And I got sick, but still love him to pieces. So yeah.
Sharon Lee:
I love it. I love it. Well, I have thoroughly enjoyed talking with you today, Kelly. It’s always fun. But why don’t you let everybody know how, if they want to find you, where they can find you?
Kelly Pickerel:
Absolutely. Well, you can find me on social media, on LinkedIn. I’m Kelly Pickerel. Luckily, there are not many Kelly Pickerels in the world, so I’m the only one on there. So you can find me there. If Twitter is still around and it has not imploded or whatever is happening on Twitter right now, you can find me at solarkellyp. But then also the website, it’s solarpowerworldonline.com. Like I said, we have daily news, and everything’s going on there, and you can find all my contact information on the website. So please, if you ever want to talk, just reach out to me.
Sharon Lee:
Fantastic. Well, again, thank you so much for joining us on The Sunny Side today. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and maybe you can take some R&R from Solar and actually enjoy some time with your family. But I so look forward to 2023, staying in touch and seeing what you all have in store for the year and beyond.
Kelly Pickerel:
Thanks, Sharon. It was wonderful talking with you, and we’re all very excited for the next year.
Sharon Lee:
Sounds good. Thanks again. Thanks for listening to The Sunny Side Podcast. If you liked what you heard, please give us a five-star review. You can also email questions, suggestions and compliments to sharon@velosolar.com. The Sunny Side is produced by the Podcast Laundry Production Company and executive produced by Sharon Lee.
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Sharon Lee:
Sharon Lee taps over a decade of solar sales experience, having led the creation of a solar division for a leading manufacturing/construction firm, resulting in over 17 MW of solar in its portfolio as well as solar ultimately becoming its highest-grossing revenue vertical. Lee has been involved in the GA Solar Energy Association, serving on the board of directors as the marketing chair, organizing the annual conference, as well as vice-chair, and ultimately the first female chair of the organization in 2015. She is also a charter member of the Professional Women in Building chapter of the Greater Atlanta Homebuilders Association, a member of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), and Women in Solar Energy (WISE). Lee earned her B.S. degree in communications with double minors in marketing and psychology from Middle Tennessee State University, after spending three years at the University of Tennessee in the pre-health curriculum. Lee is the mom of two boys, ages 14 and 11, and a rabid college football fan. She and her husband, John, spend most of their free time at the baseball or football fields unless they can steal away for a quick round of golf.
Kelly Pickerel
Kelly Pickerel is the editorial director of renewables at WTWH Media and editor-in-chief of Solar Power World, a WTWH Media solar industry publication. Kelly has been involved with publishing in the solar industry since 2011 when she started as the founding editor of Solar Builder, a trade magazine. She joined the Solar Power World staff in 2014, and her areas of focus include solar panel manufacturing, energy storage, and the development of Solar Power World’s annual Top Solar Contractors list. During Kelly’s tenure as editor-in-chief of Solar Power World, the publication has been honored as one of six finalists in the American Society of Business Publication Editors’ National Magazine of the Year award. She also is a Trade Association Business Publications International award winner for her reporting on the U.S. solar polysilicon market. Kelly graduated from Kent State University with a degree in magazine journalism and lives in Cleveland, Ohio.
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