Central Valley Business Times

What is being billed as the world's first conference dedicated specifically to addressing the challenges faced in the high altitude wind power industry has been scheduled for Nov. 5-6 in Oroville.

The conference will serve as a major platform for high altitude wind power professionals, academics, inventors and entrepreneurs from all over the world, predict its sponsors, California State University Chico, the BayTEC Alliance and the Cleantech Innovation Center at Oroville.

"The emerging high altitude wind power industry needed a center of gravity, and we are pleased that the first global conference is anchored here in Northern California," says Cristina Archer, conference chairwoman. Ms. Archer is an assistant professor of energy, meteorology, and environmental science at CSU Chico, as well as a consulting assistant professor at Stanford University.

The conference is part of a regional strategy to develop a world class cleantech economy in the northern central Valley. BayTEC Alliance is a public-private community initiative aimed at transforming the regional economy; the Cleantech Innovation Center is its first flagship project.

"We are proud not only to be a sponsor of this important conference, we are excited to host it at the new Cleantech Innovation Center at Oroville," says Weldon Larson, chairman of the BayTEC Alliance.

In addition to Ms. Archer, speakers at the two-day event represent what the sponsors term a "who's who of the wind power field," including Ken Caldeira, climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution at Stanford University; Saul Griffith, co-founder of Makani Power, Squid Labs and Potenco; Anthony Asterita, a founder of Magenn Power and seen as an expert in advanced lighter-than-air applications; JoeBen Bevirt, founder of Joby Energy; Pierre Rivard, president and CEO of Magenn Power; Len Shepard, CEO of Sky WindPower; and Robert Creighton, CEO of WindLift.

The conference is open to anyone interested in new developments in airborne wind capture devices and alternative energy.