Pluto has its moment in the sun

Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday 29/7/2009 Page: 24

Solar innovator Stuart Wenham is this year's sustainability champion.
SOLAR cell technology is the world's fastest-growing energy source. Most of us know about it but not many know that an Australian has been responsible for helping to develop and grow the technology since its infancy.

The director of ARC Photovoltaics Centre of Excellence at the University of New South Wales, Professor Stuart Wenham, is one of the world's most influential researchers in the field of photovoltaics and has set the international benchmark for first-, second- and third generation solar cell performance.

His latest developed technologies - Semiconductor Finger and Pluto - are now entering full-scale commercial production and follow on from the success of the buried contact solar cell, which is the most successfully commercialised solar cell technology in the past 20 years, with sales exceeding $US500 million.

For the past 25 years, Wenham has been involved in both the scientific innovation of the technology as well as its application. He has taken silicon cell technology from the laboratory to the factory floor on a large scale, an achievement that has placed Australia at the focal point of renewable-energy research and commercialisation.

His work has won him accolades and international awards including joint winner of the Australia Prize in 1999 and winner of both the World Technology Award for Energy (2006) and Clunies Ross Award (2008). In 2001, the buried contact solar cell was named in the top 100 Australian inventions of the 20th century. His achievements have not just been in innovation and invention but in his capacity to implement these in commercial entities.

His work in making solar cell technology a commercial opportunity was responsible for the establishment of the largely Australian owned and controlled SunTech Power Co Ltd in 2001, the world's third-largest photovoltaic manufacturer. He has given his time, skill and expertise in ensuring that sustainable energy is recognised globally.

He also leads the team of academics responsible for developing and implementing the world's first degree in photovoltaic engineering and one of the first degrees internationally in renewable-energy engineering, with a combined enrollment of 445 students this year.