Page 183 - ISES SWC50

Allan Barker
Country: Australia
Year joined industry: 1982
Company first worked for: AJ and BA Barker Electrical
Technology area: PV
Still active in the industry: Yes

Allan Barker was operating an electrical wholesale business in Ulladulla, on the south coast of New South Wales,
Australia when in 1982 he started supplying solar modules and components firstly to caravan owners and campers
and then systems to those people living off-grid in the area. At the time he approached Solarex and became their
distributor for the region. As the business grew, he also started wholesaler solar components to other small solar
business owners and installers around Australia. The 80’s and early 90’s the market on off-grid systems and
caravan/campers but then by late 90’s early 2000’s grid connected systems started being installed in Australia.
Allan moved into selling and installing these systems. In the early days of the grid connected market he installed
systems on a number of schools. When BP Solar took over Solarex in the late 90’s Barker Electrical became one
of the largest BP Solar distributors in Australia. In the mid-2000’s Allan obtained the license for a module framing
system that allowed solar laminates to be manufactured into solar roof tiles for the Building Integrated PV (BIPV)
market. He later sold license to the tile to a building company in Western Australia. Barker is still providing solar
equipment almost 40 years after it started.

Allen Barnett
Country: United States
Year joined industry: 1983
Company first worked for: Astropower
Technology area: PV
Still active in the industry: No

Dr Allen Barnett left the University of Delaware as a Professor of Electrical Engineering in 1983 to become general
manager of Astropower, Division of Astrosystems. He became President of Astropower in 1989 when it became a
separate company. Astropower started manufacturing monocrystalline solar modules in 1988 using silicon wafers
sourced from third parties and then moved onto producing solar wafers from silicon feedstocks. The company was
also undertaking R & D on silicon film. The company went public in 1998, reached manufacturing capacity of 25MW
and at one time was in the top 5 of module manufacturers. Astropower was sold to Spanish company Astera in
2001. Dr Barnett left the company in 2003 and returned to the University of Delaware. Dr Barnett has also been
active in many organisations such as being on the Board of Directors of the SEIA (US)where he also been President
of SEIA and Chairman of its Photovoltaics Division.

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