The solar industry has a lot of events, but there are not enough conferences focused squarely on technical education – which is why we’re excited the Mayfield Renewables Education Summit is coming back in 2025. Scheduled to take place October 15 and 16, at the Bell Harbor Conference Center in Seattle, Washington, this year’s event will focus on education for the commercial PV+ESS and microgrid developer market.

“We heard overwhelmingly positive feedback on the event with regard to the quality of the education and well-curated topics and partners present,” says Laurel Hamilton, head of growth for Mayfield.

Mayfield Renewables is an engineering firm with a core mission on educating the industry at large. That mission led to the launch of the Mayfield Renewables Education Summit in October 2024. The inaugural event saw 200 attendees, largely from EPCs and developers with design engineering and leadership roles, come together for a full day of training and networking focused on complex C&I PV+ESS implementation.

Early Bird registration is now open.

Impetus for the Education Summit

Energy storage systems and microgrids are becoming crucial for C&I solar, but these systems are much more complex and carry much more risk than standalone PV. “Plus, they’re evolving quickly from product solutions to requirements and best practices,” says Hamilton.

Lucas Miller, Senior Engineering Consultant at Mayfield Renewables, agrees: “Building, fire, and electrical codes update cyclically every few years. New product and engineering standards are getting introduced every year. There’s a lot to keep up with.”

This is increasing the need for reliable technical education. But quality training is currently hard to come by. Without it, developers and EPCs can’t respond to the demand for safe, reliable systems. That puts them at a strategic disadvantage and risks blocking industry growth as a whole.

As a refresher, rewatch our conversation with the Mayfield team about the launch of the Summit last year:

Changes for the 2025 Mayfield Renewables Education Summit

More technical: “A few comments we did receive in which we have made some changes, include a desire to dig in further to more advanced topics and include more applicable case studies beyond the technical concepts,” Hamilton tells us. “Both of these suggestions will be addressed in the 2025 event curriculum.”

Two days: The most notable change from 2024 to 2025 is the Summit expanding from one full day to two full days. The class agenda will be nearly identical both days, with three concurrent tracks in each time slot – this way attendees will have the opportunity to attend two of the three sessions being held at a time.

More networking: The Bell Harbor Conference Center was chosen to provide a beautiful airy, light space right on the waterfront, easily accessible from the SeaTac airport, with a hub and spoke orientation of the classes to the networking central space for the estimated ~300 attendees.

“This year the format will include a networking reception with select partners providing resources specific to the C&I PV+ESS market at the finale of day 1,” Hamilton says. “And we will close out the event on day 2 with three separate ‘Ask Mayfield Anything’ panel Q&A sessions on Codes & Standards, Design Best Practices, and Microgrid Development.”

New training courses

The demand for microgrids is only going up for numerous market, use case, and grid stability reasons – which is why Mayfield Renewables is adding an entire track for microgrid planning and development topics.

These four classes will delve into feasibility studies, economic financing models and what financiers look for, and practical microgrid development hurdles and case studies.

“With so many in the industry getting into the microgrid space we saw a need for more training on how to ensure success in the early stages of these complex projects with critical challenges,” Hamilton says.

Other hot topics

Battery testing and safety continue to be a hot topic. The Summit will address the latest in guidance on product standards and requirements with large-scale fire testing and UL9540A in one session.

What are the benefits of attending?

The future of solar is pairing solar with energy storage and building more complex microgrid systems. For developers, EPCs, manufacturers, and stakeholders in the C&I space, understanding these technologies is crucial to staying ahead of the curve.

Mayfield Renewables educators understand how to mitigate the risks and leverage the opportunities of PV+ESS and microgrid systems. They’ll share the latest information on codes, standards, and new product solutions. And they’ll provide the roadmaps needed to build safer systems and unlock the full potential of this crucial sector.

“This was a great event bringing stakeholders from all sides of the PV and ESS industry together,” says Kindle Schmidt, Energy Storage Product Specialist with Greentech Renewables. “The education focus makes this event a must-attend for anyone involved in C&I PV and BESS. Educators covered code changes, controls, considerations during design, installation, and O&M, plus some best practices for avoiding pitfalls.”

Tags: Mayfield Renewables, microgrids