Velda Addison, senior editor, Hart Energy: NOV has stepped into the solar sector. The company is using its oil and gas technology expertise to develop solar trackers and racking systems. I'm Velda Addison, senior editor of Hart Energy, and this is a Hart Energy LIVE Exclusive.

So why did NOV decide to jump into solar?

Nick Morriss, commercialization director, NOV: We like to say that we are experts in energy no matter the source. And we've been building complicated energy systems for 150 plus years now, and solar is not a big departure from our core strengths. And so we're excited to use our resources to use our legacy and apply that towards this industry and I think we can do a good job of it.

VA: I'm looking at lots of solar panels here. Can you tell me exactly what we are looking at?

NM: So solar panels, you have to mount them on something. That's the way these things are built and the things you're mounting them on are structures and we have a long history of building quite complicated structures in the energy sector. What we're looking at today is our tracking system. It's a steel fabricated structure that holds up solar panels and it really hits a lot of strengths that we possess as an organization.

VA: And what is NOV trying to achieve?

NM: Velda, we think we can bring some really important synergies to solar, leveraging 150 years of building big projects and calling upon a supply chain that's quite frankly, much larger than the solar industry right now in traditional oil and gas. And we think if we can do that, we can bring the scale to the solar industry that they're really looking for. And we're excited about that.

VA: What's next for NOV and its solar technologies?

NM: These things are constructed using a lot of man hours, a lot of labor in the field, and we've got some interesting ideas from the oil and gas sector on how we can change that. So looking forward to it.

VA: Nick, thank you so much for your time.

NM: Thanks Velda.

VA: Learn more about the energy transition and renewables at hartenergy.com.

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