Sunny Energy co-founder Joe Cunningham gave a guest lecture at Arizona State University’s PSM-SEEC (Professional Science Master Solar Energy Engineering & Commercialization) program on the future of solar, battery storage, and collaborating with utilities.

The solar energy engineering and commercialisation graduate program at ASU offers students the opportunity to pursue a variety of careers within the solar and energy industry. Last week, Cunningham, a veteran in the solar industry, spoke with students about the evolution of solar over the last 20 years and talked about the relationship between solar and utilities.

“Consumers love and embrace solar for many reasons including saving money and creating energy independence - and as a result millions of Americans have gone solar. Now Americans are looking at solar plus battery storage to further enhance the benefits,” said Cunningham. “The real challenge however is how to make a win-win for the utility companies and the needs of consumers. These students are the future of our industry and they have the opportunity to build on the progress we’ve made to date. I’m honored to be invited to guest lecture again this semester to talk about the next evolution of solar which is dynamic battery storage management system software that takes signals from the utility in real time, includes predictive analysis capabilities, and works in concert with others, like a virtual power plant.”

Cunningham added that these are exciting times for Arizona homeowners who are creating their own clean energy by going solar and enjoying the government, both state and federal, incentives available to make solar a no brainer.

Cunningham has volunteered as guest lecturer and has worked directly with students as an advisor including Bahram Emami who started as an intern at Sunny Energy and today is the company's DER Integration Engineer.