Page 196 - ISES SWC50

Steve Helleur
Country: Australia
Year joined industry: 1989
Company first worked for: Solarex
Technology area: PV
Still active in the industry: No

Steve Helleur joined the Australian PV industry in 1989 as a member of the sales team at Solarex (one of two
Australian PV manufacturers back then), responsible for growing a small national network of independent solar
retailers and installers primarily involved in off-grid solar applications. In 1996 Steve moved to Canon to promote
and sell their unique triple junction amorphous silicon technology, with stainless steel as the substrate instead of
glass, which was installed at Singleton solar farm (200kW) then part of the largest PV system in the country at the
time and on various other ground-breaking PV projects. When Canon withdrew from the market in 2001, he moved
to RFI, one of the largest solar distributors, where he spent 15 years as a product manager responsible for the
introduction of some of the major PV brands which entered the market over that period. Steve retired in 2016 after
27 interesting years in PV and after seeing the Australian market grow from a few hundred people and a couple of
MW annually, mainly off-grid, to the enormous success it is today.

Christian Holter
Country: Austria
Year joined industry: 1989
Company first worked for: Oekologisches Projekt Graz, SOLID
Technology area: Solar Thermal
Still active in the industry: Yes

Christian Holter’s passion was to bring solar heating and cooling to new options and applications, starting with his
own solar heated house with seasonal storage in 1990 through many systems in industry, district heating and solar
cooling. As well policy advisory and new business models (first ESCO contract in 1994) went hand in hand with the
development. Finally, he is using his experience now to convert cities into solar heated cities with seasonal storage.
Speeches and presentations Christian held include MIT, Harvard, Nanyang Technology University Singapore,
Imperial College London and many others but as well the World Bank, EBRD and Asian Development Bank.

178 | ISES SWC50 - The Century of Solar-Stories and Visions