Energía Estratégica inaugurated a new streaming cycle dedicated to entrepreneurs in the photovoltaic sector with a conversation with José Luis Fayos, CEO and founder of Axial Structural Solutions.
—To begin with, since we're in a World Cup context…are you a football fan?
Yes, I'm a football fan. In fact, my attention to and interest in football is an indicator of how I'm living my day-to-day life.
When I don't know what time the match is or how Real Madrid is doing—because I'm a Madrid fan—it means I'm incredibly confused and juggling multiple things. On the other hand, when I'm focused on how we're doing in the Champions League, when we play, and whether Madrid plays on Tuesday or Wednesday, then life is smiling on me.
When I was younger, I had my rituals. I'd buy myself things to watch the game, smoothies, something to snack on at home. I'd prepare it really well.
Now, if my two-year-old baby allows me to sit in front of the TV, I'm already satisfied.
Furthermore, I have a dilemma today, because my son is also playing in a tennis tournament. If I had to choose between Spain winning all their World Cup matches or my son advancing in his tournament, I would absolutely choose the latter.
At Axial, the World Cup is experienced in a very special way because we have 27 different nationalities. We have a mural that reflects this diversity, and it creates a mix of passions, jerseys, and support that is a lot of fun.
—You always talk a lot about your family…
Yes. I connect my family a lot with the company. When I've been asked to speak with young entrepreneurs, I always say something that might sound strange: I recommend starting a business when you have nothing to lose.
That is, when you don't have a family, children, or major personal responsibilities. At that point in life when you're young, and if everything goes wrong, you're the one who falls off the cliff. You don't drag anyone else down with you.
That's how I did it. I focused on the company and left getting married and having children for later.
I got married at 40 and had my first child the following year. Then I had my daughter at 50. I'm a fearless person, but it's also true that for a long time my son was my companion.
Then, my son moved to the first rung of my ladder. My family remained on the first rung, and the company on the second. I don't know where my friends fit in, perhaps somewhere in between.
My professional and business development is closely linked to my personal life and my personal growth. It's the way I've found to move forward. I don't know if it's the best way, but it's the one I like.
—Do you come from a family of entrepreneurs?
My father, may he rest in peace, was a born entrepreneur. But when I was a teenager, he had a major business crisis, and that's when I discovered how hard life can be.
Until then, I had lived an easy, fantastic life. That crisis created a kind of aversion in me to the business world. My father's brother was also a businessman, and I was very much inclined to follow that path, but I decided to study Law.
It was a way of saying, “I don’t want to know anything about the business world. I want to be a prestigious lawyer, to have a stable life.”
My father didn't tell me "don't do this," but I lived through how a company went bankrupt and how that dragged a family into a difficult situation.
I finished my degree and started working as a lawyer. But it was very strange: everyone was constantly coming up to me with ideas. It was like I had a sign on my face that said, "This guy has to do something different."
I rejected everything, until I succumbed. And I still do today.
—Looking back from today, was it the right decision?
Fantastic. Absolutely correct. Although I suffered a lot.
My professional career started from scratch. I was orphaned at 26, when I had barely begun anything in my life. And that feeling of "I'm alone and I have to do things" was very present.
My mother, my sisters, my friends were there, but that was the feeling. For a long time, every time I had to make a decision, I wondered what my father's advice would have been.
The first five years were like a horror movie. Very difficult.
But I'm absolutely in love with this industry. First, because of its purpose: we do things related to sustainability and protecting the planet. But also because of the opportunity it's given me to learn about different cultures, people, and countries, and to create companies around the world.
We founded Axial in Japan, Italy, Mexico, Colombia, and the United States. This industry and this company gave me a window onto the world, without which I wouldn't understand life now.
—What lessons did your father teach you as a businessman?
Sometimes I'm very unfair to him. He was a great creator who came from nothing, but he was clearly improvable in the consolidation process.
I always say, and sometimes my mother gets angry when she hears it, that the best lessons my father taught me were about what not to do.
People usually learn from success, from what works, from brilliance, or from talent. I take it for granted that he had incredible business acumen and an enormous capacity to pick himself up and create almost from scratch.
But I don't believe in the idea that the important thing is to get back up after failure or ruin. If you fail, of course you have to get back up. But for me, the important thing is trying not to fail.
We have this American perspective, this myth that failure is valued, as if failing were essential to succeeding later. I disagree.
I've had small failures and difficult moments, but I try not to ruin everything so I have to get back up again.
My theory is that you need to have a significant degree of conservatism. Take firm steps, go little by little, and don't take the next step until the previous one is consolidated.
Taking risks without risking the company.
Exactly. I always manage things thinking about the worst-case scenario. If the worst-case scenario is manageable, I can take on the challenge or assume the risk. If it's not manageable, I don't.
I don't think you should risk your company every ten minutes and then receive a medal for being the most intrepid.
Ultimately, you have a huge responsibility to many people and families who depend on this system running every day. It's not about you being some self-proclaimed genius who gambles everything away at the casino.
Today at Axial we are around 300 people. That means many families and many personal projects connected to this company. For me, it's a great responsibility.
—How exactly did Axial begin?
First I founded another company, in late 2005 or early 2006, also within this industry.
In 2008, the first major regulatory change came to Spain, adjusting the subsidies for renewable energy generation. At that time, everyone in the sector felt like the world was ending, like so many other times the world has.
I started to think that the industry was going to be in the hands of the biggest players and that, to stay in the sector, it was better not to be a main player but a supplier.
That's when I started looking for opportunities to offer something to the industry. By chance, someone introduced me to another person who had a structural engineering project. I started it knowing practically nothing about the business, supported by two people I trusted completely.
We quickly went international with Isolux. We won a project with them in Italy. Before I knew it, we were suppliers for a project of over 70 MW, of which we were awarded 27 MW.
That was our first big client. It was the Rovigo project, which at that time I believe was the largest solar project being developed in the world.
With a lot of recklessness, to be honest. You look back on it now and say, "How did we get ourselves into that mess if we didn't even know where the sun was rising?" But here we are.
It was very difficult back then: flying Ryanair, sleeping anywhere, spending hours on the road, and doing everything to keep the company afloat. But there was also a lot of romance.
—What was the first big decision that marked a leap forward for Axial?
The first crucial decision was to win that project. I remember that when we left the client's office in Madrid, Javier Pérez and I were returning to Valencia. Javier is still with me, and at that time he was essential to the Axial project.
The normal thing would have been to go celebrate, eat a steak somewhere. But we got in the car and headed back to Valencia, and neither of us spoke until we reached Cuenca, we were so scared. Now we had to do it right.
Then I started thinking that selling structures wasn't enough. In the end, we were going to send iron to a construction site, but we were nobody. Then it hit me: we had to do the installation.
The client wanted us to install it, but we had no idea.
At that time, my management team —Daniel Cáceres and Javier Pérez— and I would meet on Saturday mornings because we had a lot of work during the week.
After they signed that contract, I told them in a meeting, “Guys, I’ve had an idea.” Every time I suggested something, they were terrified. I said, “Let’s install Rovigo.”
They went white.
Daniel wasn't at Axial yet. He was at another sister company that did thermal installations. I looked at him and said, "You're going to be the construction manager at Axial."
Daniel responded with a phrase that has stayed with us to this day: "José Luis, I think you're making a mistake."
And I told him, "I don't care."
For me, being involved in the project meant being on the construction site. It meant seeing the Axial sign there, seeing lots of people working with the Axial logo. It meant putting the company at the center of a landmark project worldwide.
And we installed it.
—What did installing that first major project entail?
We had to hire hundreds of people. Daniel had never seen a photovoltaic structure in his life, but I believed in them more than they did themselves.
Daniel went to Italy and stayed there for two years. He gained 30 kilos because in the afternoons he only ate pandoritos and worked. But he settled in and it was a success.
On the day of the plant's Open Day, a busload of guests arrived. After everyone had spoken, they were taken on a tour of the plant. There were three structural engineers present because the project had been divided into three parts.
The bus then took all the guests to the Axial section to show them the structure we had designed and installed.
I have to admit I didn't cry on the bus because I couldn't. If I cried, they might say, "What have these people done to make the CEO cry?" But the emotion was overwhelming. It was like saying, "Oh my God, what a mess we've made."
I was about 30 or early 30. It was all very heavy metal. It was really cool, but very tough and very difficult.
I have a law degree, so I had to rely heavily on my team. But I was very clear that the plan was to keep going.
I'm the kind of person who doesn't know what would have to happen to make me stop. You'd have to kill me. I'm like a wasp: you have to really step on it because you always think it's going to come back to life and sting you.
Always keep going. Always keep moving forward. Without rushing, being conservative in every step, but keep going.
—After that first stage, when did consolidation come?
The second stage came when we left Italy and started some bridge projects in France, but above all with the flourishing of Axial in the United Kingdom.
The UK was when the company began to see significant revenue and profitability figures. It was the consolidation phase.
I have the feeling that we've done everything slower than everyone else. My obsession has always been maintaining quality and customer focus.
This might sound like something a carpet salesman would say, but it's true. I've always believed that the customer is the most important thing, and that the returns on that customer focus aren't immediate, but they're what propel you forward over the years.
For me it was very important not to take steps beyond what I had under control and that could put at risk the product or service we provided to the customer.
Also because I've never been in a hurry. It's not a lack of ambition, because I'm very ambitious. But I've always considered a company to be a marathon, not a sprint, and a long-term project.
Now more than ever, I believe that, out of responsibility to the market, we must be bolder and focus more on growth. A stronger and more robust presence in other regions.
Axial is now a global brand. Our customers have the right to have Axial in the regions where they operate.
—That prudence seems to be very connected to your personal history.
Probably. Tow engraved on the ground.
I don't see myself stopping. I see myself modifying or adapting the speed, but not stopping. I see myself doing this in 20 years, because I like it and I love it.
—Axial was recognized as number one in Europe by Wood Mackenzie... What does it feel like to be CEO?
I don't believe in a momentous decision made at a specific moment. I believe it's about continuing a line of work based on strong customer focus, excellent service, and honesty.
Things don't always go smoothly. We all have problems, in every sector, product, and project. For me, the difference between one company and another lies in how each one tackles those problems.
When there's a problem, our initial predisposition is to see how we can solve it, not how we can save ourselves and leave the client to sort it out on their own.
That, along with a very solid product, along with never neglecting safety, and with products like our 2V —which is our flagship—, has brought us to where we are today.
We always consider the 2V to be just as safe a product as the 1V and highly valued by the market.
It's many small things within the same framework: giving the customer the product and service they need, being responsible and honest, and always working hand in hand with the customer.
Eventually you grow and one day Wood Mackenzie says you're number one in Europe.
For me, that's incredibly important because it speaks to a track record. Maybe next year we won't be number one, but that recognition tells you that you're doing things right.
It is the result of a step by step, of a very consolidated team, of a company where people like to work and of living this with a certain passion.
Furthermore, we are a self-made company. We don't have a large international shareholder structure or influence anywhere. We are a financially sound company, with a solid product, a committed team, and a strong brand image.
—What management indicators do you follow most closely, beyond the financial ones?
For me, the main indicator is the perception that the market and the customer have of us.
I work closely with our global business development director to understand how customers perceive us, how the market views us, the satisfaction level, whether there are any problems, or if we have made any mistakes.
That's vital because I'm trying to make the whole company customer-oriented.
Ultimately, that's what we work for. We exist to provide a product and a service to a market, and to do it as well as possible.
—What are customers asking for today?
Financially structuring a project today and giving it the green light is very complicated for clients.
We are in a moment of great global geopolitical tension and difficulty in some markets, such as the Spanish market, which has become very saturated.
In the United States, 2025 was very complicated due to the uncertainty about how tax credits and incentives in general were going to evolve.
There's also the issue of energy prices in Spain, production hours, and how we integrate hybridization and storage to make the plants manageable.
All of this makes the customer reluctant to experiment with food.
The tracker is a crucial piece of equipment within the project. Sometimes it seems like we're selling our own book, but I wouldn't want to be on the other side of the table if I had to make the decision to buy a tracker.
I think it's one of the most crucial decisions in a project.
The entire tracker supply chain process is connected to the customer's mechanical completion process. If that fails, you disrupt the customer's entire cash flow structure, from certifications upwards, everything.
Furthermore, it's a product with limited substitution potential. If another supplier fails, you might be able to terminate the contract and buy from someone else, but that would involve issues with timing, supply, and shipping. Given the current structure, it's very complicated.
You've defined and validated your project with a specific type of tracker. If that fails, you're finished.
Then, in operation, it has to function, withstand loads, be stable, have good communication, and operate smoothly. It's crucial.
—In modules or inverters, there was a very strong influx of Chinese suppliers. In trackers, it seems to be a slower process. Why?
Things are starting to take shape. But our business's customer experience requires a very strong pre-sales component: engineering, feedback, calculations, and a lot of work with the customer.
It also requires significant after-sales service.
Pre-sales work isn't monetized during the sales process. There's a lot of work that goes unmonetized. And there are corporate cultures that don't understand doing work that doesn't generate direct revenue.
Our niche has been more protected from that contingency because, in terms of structures and trackers, the client demands a lot of upfront work. You do it in competition with others, knowing that you might not win the project.
We are culturally configured to do that. Other cultures may not be as much.
—How do you see companies that are starting to offer several technologies within the same solution?
I don't think a client for utility-scale projects is going to buy all the project equipment from the same supplier, unless there is a huge advantage in price or payment terms.
If the supplier finances you in a way that significantly improves cash flow, then maybe. But I don't think that's the case.
Large buyers have purchasing departments divided into teams: tracker, investor, module. It's all very professionalized.
Concentrating so much risk in a single provider doesn't make much sense.
Where might this make sense? For example, in Spain, for small projects by developers who don't have, or don't want, a supply chain structure. They can hire a distributor who provides them with all the necessary equipment for the plant.
But I don't think large EPCs or large utilities are willing to concentrate so much risk on a single provider.
—What are they doing at Axial with artificial intelligence?
We have created a department called Axial Force.
It's not just for AI, but for technology in general. Our goal is to apply technological tools to the company and create a system that brings together all the tools the company uses.
We rely heavily on code, programming, and powerful tools. We also use AI for development, but we approach it cautiously.
Our technology department believes AI should be used where necessary, but with caution. You could end up in a situation where, in a year or two, your monthly token costs are higher than what AI solves for you.
We're going to use it intelligently, connected to our processes and tools.
—Do you see it more as a management tool than as a way to replace tasks?
Yes. I see it as a tool to get things done faster, but without losing control.
Everything has a middle ground and two extremes. Now it seems like AI is going to manage companies and we're all going to the beach. Well, no.
In my daily life, AI already plays a very important role because I rely heavily on it for self-management. It also plays an important role in the company, but traditional, solid structures remain essential.
The aim is to bring the two parts together.
—And for your personal use?
I use it for many things: analyzing reports, helping me with tasks, asking it anything.
I have my own, it's called a walking stick. It's my walking stick, the one that helps me with almost everything.
I'm a huge fan of useful technology. I love every technological advancement that makes sense and is useful.
It's already part of the job at the company, but we want to build our own system that gives us stability in terms of management and is supported by AI in those elements that make us more agile.
—In a previous interview you said that sports taught you how to run a company. What role did it play in your early days?
In my early days, sports helped me build teamwork and commitment.
We all did everything. We were all one.
Sport gives you that. And above all, it gives you resilience, that ability to keep fighting. It's a way of life for those of us who have been or are athletes.
—What motivates you today?... When is a good day for you?
The day that makes me happy is very basic.
In the end, being a Real Madrid fan shapes your character. We're used to winning.
I'm always happy when Antonio calls and tells me, "We've won this project, which we were really struggling to win against." That makes me happy, even if it's very down-to-earth.
It also makes me happy when I'm sleeping and the smell of freshly brewed coffee fills my house, which happens every morning. My daughter is asleep next to me, my son is heading off to practice, and sometimes my wife looks at me with a loving expression. I'm joking, but that really motivates me.
On a professional level, I am motivated by arriving at the office.
When we designed the new offices, there was a door near my office that allowed me to enter almost directly. They told me, "You enter your office through here."
And I replied, “No, that door is closed. I want to go in and greet as many people as possible every morning.”
So I take a little stroll, saying good morning. I have my good mornings measured out. That makes me happy: seeing people who, at least, give me the feeling that they're glad to see me in the morning.
Seeing so many young people, such a great atmosphere, and a company that keeps moving forward motivates me a lot.
—Where would you like to see Axial in five years?
My challenge is to replicate in other regions the position that Axial already has in Europe.
Today we have a very strong, consolidated, and recognized position in Europe. I want to achieve the same in markets where we don't yet have that position.
We have a lot of room for improvement in Latin America. I'm very ambitious, and it's a fairly natural market for us.
We also have a very exciting project in the United States. This year we're going to close with considerable revenue, many projects, and things are looking very promising. We're also working in Asia Pacific.
If we can replicate the European position in those other regions, I am convinced that the Axial of five years from now will be just as predictable, just as reliable, but with a considerably more powerful global position than the current one.