Podcast
What happens after solar wins? | Watt Matters by PVcase
August 19, 2026
Podcast
Building bankable, build-ready solar | Watt Matters by PVcase
Solar demand remains high, but projects are becoming harder to execute. The challenge demands a strategic solution: moving risk management earlier into pre-construction.
S2E2 episode overview
Recorded live at Intersolar Europe 2026, this episode brings together four industry leaders to break down what it takes to convert complex opportunities into bankable, build-ready assets.
Host Conrado Lamas sits down with:
David Trainavicius, CEO of PVcase
Miguel Herrero Cangas, Senior Market Advisor at PVcase
Stephan Schindele, Agri-PV Researcher & Consultant
Madeleine Hill, Solar Analyst and Consultant at Everoze
Together, they look at how tighter grid constraints, more complex land use, tighter margins, and investor scrutiny are changing project development — and why better decisions need to happen earlier.
Building bankable, build-ready solar
Solar is a proven technology, yet solar projects become increasingly complex:
The easiest sites are disappearing. Grid access is tighter. Land has to serve more purposes. Revenue models are changing. Investors demand verified performance data before committing capital.
For developers, this means making decisions in earlier stages.
In this special episode, David Trainavicius and Miguel Herrero Cangas explore why execution quality matters more as solar becomes a major infrastructure. Stephan Schindele takes the conversation into Agri-PV, where energy production has to coexist with farming, machinery, permitting, and long-term agricultural economics. Madeleine Hill closes the loop with the due diligence perspective: where technical and financial risks emerge, and what makes investors comfortable enough to move forward.
The common thread is simple: build-ready solar is not only about speed. It is about confidence.
What you’ll learn in this episode
Why project execution is harder despite strong market demand
How land, grid, revenue risk, component choices, and soft costs impact project viability
What makes Agri-PV projects technically and commercially viable
Why due diligence must start earlier in the development lifecycle
How better insights and design decisions reduce hidden technical and financial risk
Chapters
00:00 — Building bankable, build-ready solar
01:17 — David Trainavicius: How solar has changed
06:20 — From solar design to a system of record
10:45 — Data, AI, and the next phase of solar development
13:59 — Miguel Herrero: What the market is telling us
21:19 — Is the solar industry really in crisis?
30:30 — Stephan Schindele: Why Agri-PV adds a new layer of complexity
36:09 — Policy, climate adaptation, and rural resilience
38:58 — Why Agri-PV is moving into the mainstream
41:59 — The economics of multipurpose solar
47:18 — Madeleine Hill: What makes a project bankable
54:29 — Due diligence in a fast-changing solar market
59:55 — Better project data and stronger handoffs
01:08:30 — Why build-ready solar is about confidence
Meet the guests
David Trainavicius, Co-Founder and CEO, PVcase
David Trainavicius has spent more than 17 years in solar, spanning engineering, software, and data. His career centers on scaling utility-scale project development, bridging technical design workflows with enterprise-level data management, and guiding solar’s evolution into major energy infrastructure.
Miguel Herrero Cangas, Senior Market Advisor, PVcase
Miguel leads market intelligence at PVcase, analyzing developer operations across global markets. He connects insights from customer conversations, market research, and the work PVcase does with solar professionals, granting him a unique perspective on how grid congestion, land scarcity, rising soft costs, and component selection impact early-stage project viability.
Dr. Stephan Schindele, Researcher & Consultant in Agri-PV
Dr. Schindele is a researcher and consultant specializing in agrivoltaics, with a background spanning solar research at Fraunhofer ISE, product management, energy policy, and project development at BayWa r.e. His work covers the technical co-design, farming integration, dual-use permitting, and long-term operating models required to scale Agri-PV assets.
Madeleine Hill, Solar Analyst and Consultant, Everoze
Madeleine Hill is an analyst and consultant at Everoze specializing in solar due diligence, risk review, energy assessments, and performance analysis. She sits at the middle point between technical decisions and investment decisions, helping investors, lenders, and developers identify structural project risks and structure clean data handoffs to secure capital.
Meet the Host
Conrado Lamas, Head of Marketing Communications, PVcase
Host of this Intersolar edition of Watt Matters, Conrado Lamas speaks with analysts, operators, and industry executives about the strategic questions emerging as solar scales into global energy infrastructure.
About the Watt Matters podcast
On Watt Matters, a podcast from PVcase, we speak with industry leaders about the major challenges they run into daily. We get to the root of why projects fail and share the recipe for building a more resilient foundation for success.
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