Page 190 - ISES SWC50

Mark Fitzgerald (1955- 2005)
Country: United States
Year joined industry: 1981
Company first worked for: Photovoltaics international
Technology area: PV
Still active in the industry: No

Mark was an early believer in PV and in 1981 was the founding publisher and editor of PV International magazine.
He was also the Executive Director of the PV Information and Education Association, in the 1980s, and he worked for
a number of industry and government organizations, including the U.S. National Center for Appropriate Technology
and the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Mark was an NREL representative at the Selling Solar workshop
at the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation Pocantico Centre, in 1995. At that time there was a (regrettable) history of
failed PV projects in developing countries, largely because of poor quality systems integration and installation.
Mark decided to address the training requirements for systems designers, integrators, installers and maintainers.
At the time there were no “training standards” in existence to be applied, so he decided to form the Institute for
Sustainable Power (ISP) in October 1996 to develop the standards and to act as an accreditation body. He travelled
the world extensively and oversaw training programmes in numerous developing countries including Brazil, China
and India. The standard developed by Mark was purchased by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC)
which was the start of the solar training accreditation program operated today by IREC. Mark was also contracted
to develop the rules and operational procedures for the start of NABCEP in the about 2003. Mark was the United
States representative to the International Energy Agency’s Photovoltaic Power Systems Task 9 expert working
group on Photovoltaics in Developing Countries, he served on the ANSI review committee for the ISO/IEC 17024
standard for accrediting bodies that certify persons, and he served on the advisory board of the American Solar
Energy Society’s Solar Today magazine. He was an author of more than 25 technical and popular articles.

Scott Frier (Deceased)
Country: United States
Year joined industry: 1984
Company first worked for: LUZ Engineering Corporation
Technology area: PV
Still active in the industry: No

Scott’s experience in the Solar Power industry spanned more than three decades and his fingerprints are all over the
world’s CSP industry. His career started in Daggett California during the construction of the first commercial CSP
plant (SEGS I) as a construction worker of the Blount construction company in 1984. He immediately fell in love with
the project and joined its owners a year later as a maintenance Superintendent for Luz Engineering Corporation.
From there, his ability to quickly learn the technology and his incredible aptitude to articulate and to transmit his
knowledge to others, propelled him to several management positions up to General Manager--first in Daggett
SEGS I and II and later to SEGS III-VII at Kramer Junction. In 1991, after the bankruptcy of the original developer
LUZ, Scott thrived as he was retained by the equity investors to create and be the Chief Operating Officer of a
standalone O&M Company for the plants at Kramer Junction. For 12 years at the helm of KJC, Scott demonstrated
his management and motivational skills while helping to promote solar energy, in spreading his passion to his
employees and educating the world in proudly promoting the success of the plants. With the extensive expertise
in managing all aspects of the development, construction and O&M gained at the SEGS, he decided to further
conquer more of the solar world by joining International Companies focused on developing large scale CSP plants
worldwide. So, starting in 2005, He served as VP at Solargenix/Acciona in the US Southwest, as Chief Operating
Officer at Abengoa in the US and Spain and later as COO of renewables at ACWA Power based in Dubai. During
his journey Scott, a truly Solar pioneer was responsible for the formation of hundreds of employees who all became
dedicated Solar enthusiasts.

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