In his keynote presentation at Intersolar North America 2012, Jim Brown, First Solar EVP of Global Business Development, laid out his vision for the solar industry’s future, enumerating the keys to success in light of the rapidly changing business drivers for utility-scale solar power on both the supply and demand side.

Part 3 in a series:  First Solar spends more than $1 billion annually with over 1,000 U.S. suppliers across 35 states. In this ongoing series, we will explore the inspiring stories of companies growing in partnership with us.

What does it take to run a business and how does it feel to manage people? How does a company market their products and is it easy to obtain customers? These are the regular questions that young people ask when enquiring about running their own businesses.

In June, First Solar announced it would provide 159 megawatts of solar power projects for AGL Energy under Australia's Solar Flagships Program.  Jack Curtis, Vice President of Business Development, and Rob Bartrop, Senior Manager of Business Development, from First Solar’s Sydney office discuss the project and the future of large-scale solar in Australia.

Part 2 in a series:  First Solar spends more than $1 billion annually with over 1,000 U.S. suppliers across 35 states. In this ongoing series, we will explore the inspiring stories of companies growing in partnership with us.

First Solar has five speakers presenting in various sessions at Intersolar North America (San Francisco, July 9-12) on topics ranging from solar project finance to grid integration.

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD 2012) –known as the Rio +20 Earth Summit- drew to a close and world leaders failed to produce ambitious commitments on sustainable growth. Although hopes were not very high before the start of the negotiations, it is still regrettable that no considerable progress was made with regard to measures promoting a transition to a low carbon and renewable energy economy.