LOS ANGELES: After flying thousands of kilometres, visiting five American cities and two weeks filled with high-intensity meetings pushing Mildura’s credentials as the solar capital of Victoria - the city’s solar mission has returned home exhausted but well satisfied with their efforts.

Even in the final hours of the mission, Mildura Development Corporation chiefs Dane Huxley and Anne Mansell had a hasty meeting with a large US construction firm near Los Angeles airport to make a final pitch.

That unexpected meeting was a direct result of contacts made by the five-member delegation during the Solar Power International Conference in Anaheim.

Cards were exchanged after a panel session which resulted in contact from the solar firm’s boss to Ms Mansell and the meeting arranged at a hotel near the airport just hours before the team flew back to Australia.

Ms Mansell said after the meeting it had been another important opportunity to pitch for Mildura.

Mayor Glenn Milne said of the research mission: “It’s been very full-on but it’s been incredibly well worth it.”

The tired delegation arrived back in Mildura yesterday afternoon.

They will meet again during this week for a debriefing to highlight some issues which need immediate local action and others which will be the subject of further reports to both the Mildura Rural City Council and the development corporation.

For more of this story, purchase your copy of Thursday’s Sunraysia Daily 2/11/2009.