Interviews

Chile is forecast to install half of all new solar capacity in Latin America this year. But logistical operations for remote solar projects and the threat of natural disasters are both major considerations for the region. Tom Kenning spoke to Jatin Sharma of GCube Underwriting about the risks associated with the Chilean market.

Ahead of a major solar finance conference in New York next week, US developer Greenwood Energy's CEO Camilo Patrignani tells Ben Willis why investor appetite for PV has never been greater.

Despite the many headwinds facing Indian PV producers, one firm, Sonali Solar, is planning to ramp capacity over the coming months. Tom Kenning spoke to chief executive and president Pankaj Desai to gain an insight into the challenges facing domestic manufacturers.

When the democratically-elected President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, took office in May this year, the country of 170 million people had just 2.5GW of power capacity. PV Tech spoke to Professor Abubakar Sani Sambo, the chairman of the Nigerian Member Committee, World Energy Council (WEC), who will be speaking at the Solar Energy UK 2015 event in Birmingham this week, about what the outlook is for the solar industry five months into the new premiership of a country with a huge energy deficit.

John Grimes, chief executive of the Australian Solar Council, explains to PV Tech what impact the recent political compromise on the country's Renewable Energy Target will have on its solar industry.

Some of the smaller players in Latin America’s solar market appear to be taking off this year, leaving some of the bigger names in their wake, according to the latest GTM Research forecasts. PV Tech spoke to GTM's Adam James about the countries to watch in 2015.

Joint ventures involving Spain-based energy company Aljaval have received electric energy generation approval for eight solar power projects with a combined capacity of 220MW in Mexico. Javier Mas Abad, Aljaval deputy director, spoke to PV Tech about the strong future for solar in Mexico despite difficulties in gaining finance.

SolarCity has announced a partnership with Google-owned Nest to trial new customers in California using Nest’s smart thermostats in conjunction with solar power consumption. Omar Saadeh, senior grid analyst at GTM Research, spoke to PV Tech about the trend for solar companies partnering with smart home technologies and the increasing consumer appeal of energy management systems.

Author, campaigner and solar energy entrepreneur Jeremy Leggett's latest book, 'The Winning of the Carbon War', has just been published as a 10-part serial in the run up to the Paris climate summit in December. In a special interview, he speaks to Peter Bennett, editor of PV Tech's sister site, Solar Power Portal, about the global solar industry's role in the clean energy revolution he believes is inevitable as the oil, gas and coal industries become increasingly unstable.