San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom joined more than 170 conference speakers at 25 conference tracks yesterday as Intersolar North America opened its doors to discuss market trends and issues facing the solar industry such as reaching grid parity, federal and state policies, emerging and existing technology innovations and the growth opportunities in the North American market.

“We are happy to host Intersolar North America in San Francisco, which is proud to be a leader in clean technology development,” said Mayor Newsom. “Intersolar provides our local and global solar businesses with the opportunity to further develop the state of the solar market, making clean energy an achievable goal for us all.”

The solar trade show, dedicated to recruiting companies across the solar supply chain from around the world, opened yesterday at San Francisco’s Moscone Center West. The event, which continues through tomorrow, is organized by Solar Promotion International GmbH and Freiburg Management and Marketing International (FMMI) GmbH and is co-organized by the SEMI PV Group.

Co-located with SEMICON West and co-organized with PV Group, the global photovoltaic initiative of SEMI, Intersolar North America presents more than 560 solar exhibitors at both locations from 23 countries worldwide. This week’s events are designed to facilitate international connections between solar companies from all areas of the supply chain that make up the $50 billion international solar industry. More than 17,000 visitors are expected to attend.

Earlier this year, the growing demand in booth sales prompted organizers to open another level in Moscone West, tripling the size of last year’s exhibition and bringing the 2009 total floor space to approximately 120,000 net square feet, accommodating 444 international exhibitors at Moscone West Hall alone. Growth and development themes carry over into the 30 Innovation Exchange presentations which take place throughout the week as well, highlighting new and emerging technologies, training programs for solar jobs and growing solar businesses in the U.S. and worldwide.

“Both the exhibition and conference have grown faster than we ever imagined in just two years,” said Professor Eicke R. Weber, Intersolar North America committee chair and director, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Freiburg, Germany. “With so many critical issues facing the solar industry today, the economy included, Intersolar North America provides companies an opportunity to learn from each other and connect to grow their own businesses.”