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A conversation with Wayne Baker [caption id="attachment_1059" align="alignright" width="225"] Wayne Baker, owner of Baker Light Industries in Alder, Montana[/caption] In October 2016, MREA talked with Wayne Baker, owner of Baker Light Industries in Alder, Montana, about his background and how all the different renewable energy technologies he works with complement one another. How did you get into renewable energy? I took a job out of college down in Colorado working for a company that did automation and instrumentation for dams and waterways. In 1994 I installed my first solar panel charging a battery to monitor the water level in a reservoir. We did several projects like that where we had to build little off-grid power systems. In 1999 I came back to Montana and took a job with a company…

A conversation with Orion Thornton [caption id="attachment_1038" align="alignright" width="300"] Orion Thornton and Conor Darby, owners of Onsite Energy[/caption]Orion Thornton, co-owner of Onsite Energy along with Conor Darby, talked to MREA in March 2016 about how he fulfilled his dream of building a career in solar in his home state of Montana. How did you get into the solar business? I grew up off the grid in Northwest Montana, which sparked my interest in alternative energy. In 2002, after taking a weeklong renewable energy workshop, I realized I could make a career of it. In 2006 I completed a two-year solar design and installation degree at San Juan College in New Mexico. After finishing the degree I came back to Montana to regroup, and was prepared to move out of state…