History

ACORE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Washington D.C., was founded in 2001 to bring together leading proponents and innovators in all facets of  the renewable energy sector for the purpose of moving renewable energy into the mainstream of America’s economy.

ACORE started out small, but with a very large goal: to create a membership-based organization for the wide range of interests in the renewable energy community—and to give our members a common platform for communicating, finding each other and through education and collaboration contributing to the success of the RE industry.

Today we still operate with a small Washington D.C. staff, but our membership has grown steadily -- in mid 2008 numbering close to 500 companies,  including renewable energy industry associations, utilities, end users, professional service firms, financial institutions, educational institutions,  nonprofit groups and government agencies.

In mid 2008, we also opened an office in San Francisco to better serve the needs of our fast growing west coast membership…which now makes up over a quarter of our total membership base

ACORE serves as a forum through which diverse parties work together on common interests. Our primary vehicle for sharing information is convening: we organize and hold major annual conferences attended by hundreds of industry leaders. We also have established committees and working groups which meet regularly to work on specific industry issues. Since 2007 we have also organized and hosted monthly webinars on the legal issues faced by the industry. As we’ve grown we’ve added research and publishing to the benefits that our members receive by joining ACORE: these serve to inform and keep our membership current on trends and opportunities.

On an annual basis since 2003, ACORE has convened conferences in New York and Washington to focus on the three major areas that shape and advance renewable energy innovation and development in America: Policy, Markets and Finance.

• Focus on Finance: Our New York Conferences are called REFF-Wall Street and are organized to bring together the organizations interested in financing renewable energy companies and projects…with those in the industry who are innovating or wishing to scale up their operations in this space. These conferences attract hundreds of participants over three days: speakers come from across the country and represent the leading venture capital firms, bankers, entrepreneurs, and senior financiers. The topics covered range from project finance, venture capital and public capital markets to the emerging field of monetizing the value of reducing carbon emissions.

  In 2008, ACORE extended this historically east coast conference to the west coast by creating REFF-West, a two-day finance conference that covers issues specific to project developers and financiers in the fast growing RE market in the western United States.
   

• Focus on Policy: Our annual Washington Conferences are called Phase II of Renewable Energy in America, and are held in the Cannon Caucus room within the U.S. House of Representatives. The conference name derives from the sense that Phase I of renewable energy was focused on RE technologies, science and research: Phase II is where we are today – commercializing and scaling renewable energy project and products for global consumption.  These conferences are attended by federal government policy and decision makers who come to hear from the industry’s thought leaders on policy matters – and matters of practical realities – that impact the industry both in the U.S. and globally.
   
• Focus on Markets: As early as 2007 ACORE began discussions that would lead to a collaborative partnerships with the U.S. government to co-produce in March of 2008 a global meeting of over 8,500 officials, business executives and technical and industry professionals. The first of many international trade shows and conferences to come, WIREC was clearly the major “renewable energy communications event” of 2008 worldwide.

In February of 2009 ACORE will host another large technical conference and exhibition in Las Vegas, Nevada called RETECH 2009. It will be the a conference that features all of the renewable energy technologies – and the leading companies that are advancing them –in one place at one time.