ENGLISH ORIGINAL VERSION

Almost 200 businessmen, investors and decissionmakers from 24 countries who attended Rising Opportunities ?SOLAR BALKANS 2011? ? 1st Solar Business Forum for Balkans, held on 14 and 15 April 2011 in Sofia, Bulgaria confirmed a big interest in development of solar PV business in the Balkan region.

We are also happy that we can share some of Solar Balkans knowledge with you. SolarPV.TV did a coverage of the event and it is constantly updated on the devoted channel.

Solar Balkans coverage by SolarPV.TV - interviews and panel discussions

Interviews

I. Country updates

Balkan Countries:

1.     Nikola Gazdov, Chairman of BPVA, Bulgarian Photovoltaic Association                 

2.     Bulgaria - Krasen Karamanov, CEO of Solar PV Invest

3.     Greece - Alexander Zachariou, President of HELAPCO and Commercial Director at Heliosphera

4.     Turkey - Prof. Dr. Sener Oktik, International Relations GENSED & Adviser to President of ARIKANLI HOLDING Sener Oktik

5.     Serbia - Ana B. Bovan, President of CEDEF, Serbia

6.     Macedonia - Sanja Vasilevska, Vice-President of SOLAR MACEDONIA

7.     Croatia - Jurica Greguric?, Executive Director of Solvis

8.     Romania - Silviu Dumitrescu, Technical Manager at Est Solar, Romania

9.     Slovenia - Uros Merc, President of ZSFI, Slovenian PV Industry Association and CEO of Bisol

Other countries:

1.     Italy - Federico Brucciani, Italian Solar PV Expert, Director of SolarPV.TV Italy

2.     France - Fabrice Juquois, President of Phote?s & former PV expert at ADEME, Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Energie (French Environment and Energy Management Agency)

II. Financing of projects in the Balkans

1.     Josef Robert Straninger ? Global Key Account Manager in Competence Center Renewable Energies, UniCredit Global Leasing, Austria

III. Solar business in the Balkans - companies point of view

1.     Canadian Solar ? Daniel Heck, Marketing Director for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Canadian Solar

2.     Satcon ? Peter Deege, General Manager EMEA, Satcon International s.r.o

3.     Martifer Solar - Pedro Gomes Pereira, Regional Manager, Mediterranean at Martifer Solar

4.     BP Solar ? Frank Niendorf, Managing Director

5.     MAG ? Dr.- Ing. Sebastian Haupt, Technology Manager Solar

 Panel discussions in both English and Bulgarian language versions

1.     How to develop solar energy in Bulgaria. Recommendations from the key solar markets.

2.     New FIT, how to not to overheat the Bulgarian market. Ways for sustainable development of solar energy in Bulgaria.

3.     Is the Greek or Turkish model the most efficient driver for the market development? Greece vs. Turkey or rather Greece and Turkey for sustainable solar growth?

4.     Can Balkans become an attractive region for solar Business in Europe?

5.     Key factors to help emerging markets in development of solar energy.