The City of Los Angeles and the Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Jiangsu Provincial Government of the People’s Republic of China entered into an agreement focused on the promotion, expansion, and development of solar energy technology in both regions through new cooperative initiatives.

The new relationship was inaugurated at the US-Jiangsu China Solar Business Summit 2009, held on 17^th July at the USC Davidson Executive Conference Center, Los Angeles. Organized with the assistance of the Washington D.C.-based American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE), the event will facilitate an exchange of information on solar technology and respective market access and conditions in Jiangsu and Southern California.

“ACORE recognizes that the climate challenges we face are global challenges and will require global solutions,” said Michael Eckhart, President of ACORE. “Our US-China Program was created to build new collaborations between our two countries and to encourage the deployment of solar and other renewable technology as real answers to the growing global demand for energy.”

“Because the City of Los Angeles plans to eliminate the use of coal-fired power plants and generate 40 percent of the city's electricity from renewable resources-- including 1,280 MW of solar power--by 2020, we felt this kind of knowledge exchange was particularly useful,” said David Freeman, the Deputy Mayor of Energy and Environment.

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