See below for video of Chris Brown of Vestas, keynoting the opening session on day two of WINDPOWER 2017, concluding today in Anaheim, CA. According to Brown, who is completing his tenure as Chair of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the next five years will be the "best five years of your life" for the wind power industry. Brown adds: "So along with the success that we've been having, if you've become afraid, then I say good! Welcome to life as an energy industry disruptor." And Brown notes that "critics criticize...but ask yourself, why do those critics pay attention to us? Because we're a threat, because we're winning." A few more quotes from Brown's excellent speech:

By Mike Casey and Sarah Lippincott

Today, HubSpot is launching its annual “State of Inbound” report.  Last year’s report contained the startling conclusion that, “In five years, marketing and sales as you know it will no longer exist.” Instead, HubSpot noted that where people consume information is changing rapidly, with 2 out of 3 adults using social media to keep up with the news, Facebook users watching 8 billion videos every day, and with technology becoming a lot more mobile – “and is changing at a pace more rapid than anything we’ve seen before.” Given all these changes, HubSpot concluded that marketers can’t keep talking to consumers like they haven’t changed. This means that “inbound” marketing – pulling in customers via social media marketing, Search Engine Optimization and content marketing - needs to change as well.

In energy markets across the country, from Texas to California to New Jersey and states like Iowa in between – electricity generated from renewables is rapidly becoming cheaper than fossil fuel generation. The increasing cost advantage of renewable energy has become a talking point for clean energy and climate change advocates. It’s also become a selling point for businesses looking to identify markets where its easiest and most beneficial to heavily invest in renewables.

Navigant Research is out with a new report providing "global market analysis and forecasts" for solar PV and advanced battery energy storage, and the results are highly bullish. See below for a chart showing that, "By 2026, the annual global market for the deployment of [Distributed Solar plus Energy Storage -- DSES] in the residential, C&I, and remote, off-grid market segments is anticipated to reach 27.4 GW and $49.1 billion." Also, see below the chart for a few more key findings from the report's Executive Summary

The Energy Storage Association (ESA)’s 27^th Annual Conference and Expo in Denver last month brought together the booming energy storage industry as it discussed the best ways to “set a path forward for continued growth and acceleration of energy storage markets, policy, and technology.”  There was a great deal of positive news for the industry coming out of the conference, including that  energy storage costs are “plummeting,” that the industry “has turned a corner,” and that more people need to hear this success story.