It’s a special year for ATRAA, as it celebrates its 30th meeting.

ATRAA (formerly known as the Appropriate Technology Retailers Association of Australia, now known simply as ATRAA), began in 1979 with a meeting of four businesses. At last year’s ATRAA conference in Canberra there were more than 200 delegates.

About 20 exhibitors of solar equipment, including solar pumping systems, grid-connect PV systems and stand-alone systems, are booked for the conference, exhibition and trade show at the Cairns Hilton from 1 – 4 August.

Speakers from across the country and across the industry will discuss the critical issues impacting on solar.

Traditionally ATRAA has been of most interest to installers, designers and manufacturers of solar technology.

But this year organisers also wanted to recognise the great interest from the community about solar power.

So for the first time in its history, ATRAA will throw open its doors to the public on the final day (Saturday 4 August) for two hours, between 10 am and noon, enabling people to come along and ‘touch, see and feel’ solar technology.

“There’s so much interest from the general public in solar,” said BCSE Industry Manager, Jenniy Gregory.

“So many people want to do something for the environment, and with PV and solar water heating, they can.

“Opening ATRAA to the public will mean people can come in and see, feel and touch solar technology, and ask questions of the installers.”

Another new feature this year is the launch of a four-year commitment by the solar industry to donate a solar PV system to the town that hosts ATRAA every year, as a way to highlight the importance of solar PV as a source of clean decentralised energy.

To kick off the four-year commitment BP Solar is designing, installing and donating a 1 kW system on the roof of The Lagoon, a large swimming complex on the Cairns foreshore. This will be officially opened on Saturday morning, before the opening of the trade exhibition.

As usual at ATRAA, the open discussion sessions about issues affecting the industry are expected to create lively debate. Attendees are requested to send in their topics and questions for discussion in the ATRAA sessions before 20 July for inclusion in the program.

Other ATRAA highlights include:

- ‘The good, the bad and the possibly excellent’ presented by (chief inspector) Ian Dawson: feedback from the 2006-2007 solar PV inspectors around the country. The title marks a significant step up from previous years with less flattering descriptions: ‘The good, the bad and the ugly’, and ‘The good, the bad and the not-so-ugly’
- Rodger Meads, Managing Director of Conergy, speaks about new opportunities for combining Solar Water Heating and solar PV in the same installation framework
- Professional Development sessions for installers and site visits (Wednesday)
- Denis Smedley and Joe Wyder from the Australian Greenhouse Office, updating the status of government solar PV programs
- Conference Dinner and Awards presentation on Friday 3 August
- Fun Walk and Run on the conference weekend (free t-shirts!)

To celebrate its 30th meeting, ATRAA will showcase memorabilia and photos from its history. Ross Reynolds from Ergon Energy is looking for photos to showcase at the conference, so if anyone has memorabilia they would like to contribute they can contact Ross on .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or
07 4050 2883.