31|08|2009

"2008 was the big year for the sector in Spain. Martifer Solar took full advantage of the occasion to begin its expansion process and moved into Italy, France, Greece, the United States and Belgium".

1. How long have Martifer Solar worked in Spain, and how important is Spanish business for the company?

The Metal Constructions division of the Martifer group has been in Spain since 1999. It is the market leader in its activity in the Iberian Peninsula. The Group was already strong in the country when it decided to diversify into renewable energies, in 2007. The first place it set up shop after Portugal was obviously here.
Generally speaking, up until now, a high percentage of the turnover of Martifer Solar has come from Spain. We should not lose sight of the fact that 2008 was the big year for the sector in the country. Martifer Solar took full advantage of the occasion to begin its expansion process in the leading country in renewable energies at that time, and then moved into Italy, France, Greece, the United States and Belgium.

2. Which of the projects undertaken in Spain stand out the most?

Martifer Solar’s most important projects have been carried out in Spain, almost 35 MW installed capacity is figure that illustrates this well. Nevertheless I always like to point to two projects that were especially significant for us. The first is the solar plant in Vinaceite, Teruel, with 8.8 MW capacity installed on double-axis solar trackers, the largest turnkey installation we have completed, which has been working to full capacity since connecting to the grid last year. The other is the architecturally integrated photovoltaic roof of the Torre de Cristal (the Mutua Tower), one of the skyscrapers of Madrid. In production terms the work is not important, 37KW, but in terms of its complexity it is. It is 250 meters above ground level and a very complex engineering study was required for its installation (professional mountaineers were needed to assembly the photovoltaic glass). We are proud to say it is the highest Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) project in the world.

3. What is your view of the current economic and legislative situation in the sector for your company?

Crisis situations generate opportunities for those companies able to adapt and to be flexible. The latest legislative changes laid down bureaucratic procedures and limits that put a brake on the market from September last year until April this year. We began a major commercial campaign to attract industrial roof projects in order to bring things forward in terms of our forecasts in June 2008, and we have managed to build up a portfolio of more than 300,000 m2, that, combined with the year being one of transition and one for creating opportunities, which we will doubtless take advantage of, is pointing the way towards a much better 2009 than expected.

4. How do you see the future of the sector in the medium term?

Current tensions in raw materials on the world market are now causing prices to fall which will make this type of energy increasingly accessible to the end user, and we will soon be in a situation in which electricity generation using these systems has a similar cost to generation from conventional sources, in other words the long-desired grid parity is just over the horizon, we will soon have a very competitive cost for Kilowatt/hour generation. And despite the crisis, the price of crude is going to begin to climb just when consumption begins to show signs of recovery or when there is a readjustment in supply and demand, with a consequent immediate impact on those generation technologies sensitive to these variations. If in addition, the emerging economies place still further strain on the energy markets, it is possible to discern a highly promising future for the generation of energy using renewable sources, and specifically photovoltaics.

5. What role does innovation and development play in Martifer Solar?

Martifer Solar is very clear, its commitment to investment in R&D and Innovation is essential. Without Innovation and Development, without Research, progress is impossible. Martifer Solar’s mission for its clients is to provide ‘safety and adaptation’ and a good way of doing this is to invest resources in supplying new solutions and improving existing products. Results of our desire to not to neglect R&D and Innovation are our factory of solar modules, one of the most efficient on the market, the development of architecturally integrated installations, such as the above-mentioned Torre de Cristal, photovoltaic skylights or the new Cultural Center in Alcobendas, and our photovoltaic solution to take advantage of the roofs of outdoor car parks, which we call SmartPark.

6. Why have you set your sights on roof-top installations?

Market trends in Spain, which as I said above led the world market in 2008, are going to continue down the road taken by the German market, the most mature market in Europe. It was a strategic decision for us to move into the roof-top installations sector because we are going to have a know-how that generates a competitive edge that is easily exportable to other countries and markets.
In addition, we should not ignore the new Royal Decree, which we are fortunately one step ahead of, in that it favors roof-top installations; well that is where we are right now.