FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 27, 2015

Contacts:
Steve Patterson, 501-537-0190 or steve@arkansasadvancedenergy.com
Mollie Merry Campbell, 501-537-0190 or mollie@arkansasadvancedenergy.com

AAEA Annual Meeting Features Walmart Energy VP Mark Vanderhelm
Business Group Plans 4th Annual ‘emPOWERing Arkansas’ Conference on October 20

Little Rock, AR – Walmart Vice President for Energy, Mark Vanderhelm, will be the keynote speaker at “emPOWERing Arkansas”, the Arkansas Advanced Energy Association’s (AAEA) annual meeting and policy conference scheduled this year on October 20 at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Little Rock, the organization announced today. AAEA also announced Silicon Ranch Corporation as this year’s Presenting Sponsor.

The group also announced that the popular morning policy roundtable will feature the state’s emerging solar market and advanced energy’s role in helping Arkansas comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan. The policy roundtable is a lively discussion of policy trends in the advanced energy industry scheduled during the morning of AAEA’s annual conference.

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Mr. Vanderhelm to this year’s emPOWERing Arkansas conference,” said Steve Patterson, AAEA Executive Director. “Walmart is a worldwide corporate trend setter in the adoption of advanced energy technologies for cost saving and sustainability reasons. And of course, the policy roundtable will, as always, tackle the latest trends in our industry including advanced energy’s significant role in addressing a Clean Power Plan.”

Scheduled at the Doubletree Hotel in Downtown Little Rock, AAEA’s fourth annual meeting and policy conference will draw advanced energy leaders from throughout the region along with policy makers, regulators and power industry representatives to examine ongoing trends in the industry along with a look at future development.

Patterson indicated that more details about this year’s conference will be announced in the weeks ahead.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

AAEA Members and Guests: For event information, registration, and sponsorship opportunities, please visit: http://arkansasadvancedenergy.com/index.cfm?objectid=1794EFB0-7B34-11E4-8A4A0050569A5318

Members of the Media: Please contact Mollie Campbell at (501) 537-0190 or mollie@arkansasadvancedenergy.com for information on media accommodations.

Arkansas Advanced Energy Association is a business group dedicated to growing Arkansas’s economy by expanding our energy workforce and manufacturing base through the increased development, manufacture, and utilization of advanced energy technologies.

The Arkansas Advanced Energy Foundation is the educational affiliate of the AAEA. The Foundation promotes greater public understanding of advanced energy in Arkansas through research, public education programs and economic and workforce development. The Foundation is dedicated to informing the energy policy debate with well-researched, fact-based data on the advanced energy economy in Arkansas and by providing a public forum where state leaders can address Arkansas’s energy challenges for the future.

Silicon Ranch Corporation is one of the nation’s leading developer, owner, operators of solar energy projects. The Nashville-based company is leading the development of the 12 MW solar field currently being built in East Camden’s Highland Industrial Park for defense contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne. Silicon Ranch Corporation is a member of AAEA.

New Study Finds 25,000 Arkansans Working in the Advanced Energy Economy
The development of innovative technologies to help meet America’s energy demands has allowed the emergence of an advanced energy sector that now accounts for the employment of more than 25,000 Arkansans, according to a new study released by the Arkansas Advanced Energy Foundation (AAEF) this week.

The Clean Power Plan and Arkansas’s Electric System
Prior to release of the final Clean Power Plan AAEA released a background summary document, “The Clean Power Plan and Arkansas’s Electric System”. The report shows that Arkansas is well on its way to reducing emissions and meeting targets, and has an opportunity to modernize its electric grid for the benefit of consumers and the economy in the course of complying with the EPA rule.

Follow Arkansas Advanced Energy on Twitter @ArkAdvEnergy and like “Arkansas Advanced Energy Association” on Facebook.

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