Page 210 - ISES SWC50

Ted (Edward) Spooner
Country: Australia
Year joined industry: 1987
Company first worked for: University of NSW
Technology area: PV
Still active in the industry: Yes

In approximately 1987 Ted Spooner through UNSW worked with NSW Dept of Energy, testing small stand-
alone systems. Then in 1988 developed a stand-alone sine wave with Geebung company. The first licensed grid
connected PV system was next, at Little Bay in Sydney which was used as a test lab for inverters including for
the Olympic village. Ted retired in 2009 but keeps his linkage with the University of NSW where he is a Visiting
Fellow in the School of Electrical Engineering. He is very actively involved in standards development in Australia
where he has been a member of the Australian committee for renewable energy systems since 1998. He chaired
this committee for 10 years from 2004 to 2014 which saw the development of standards for grid connection,
stand-alone systems and PV arrays. From 2000 Ted has represented Australia on the International Electrotechnical
Commission committee TC82 - Photovoltaics. He was International Chairman of TC82 for 2003-2004 and has
been a member of working group WG3 – Systems, WG6 – BOS components and the JWG on developing country
systems since joining in 2000 and is the current co-convenor of WG3 since 2007. Ted was project leader for a
renewable energy test lab funded by an ARC grant - ACRELAB which was established at Murdoch University in
Perth. It was an internationally recognized laboratory participating in many aspects of renewable energy system
design, system standards and systems testing. Australian and international standards development, due to the
rapid innovation and expansion of the industry and the need to keep systems safe continues to be a challenging
area and Ted continues to be heavily involved. Ted has been honoured by a number of awards for his work in the
industry over the years culminating in an AM for significant service to the renewable energy sector in 2019.

Wilhelm Stahl
Country: Germany
Year joined industry: 1980
Company first worked for: Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy
Systems
Technology area: Solar Architecture/ Buildings
Still active in the industry: No

He started research in 1980 at the Fraunhofer-Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg. Main Research
objectives were Transparent Insulation Systems and Thermal Conversion of solar radiation with fluorescent
collectors. He was project manager of the Self-sufficient Solar House in Freiburg - the worldwide first house
with a transparent insulated South facade and a complete Solar Hydrogen system with electrolyser, fuel cell and
seasonal hydrogen and oxygen storage. The Self-sufficient Solar House had no connection to the public grid.
After FhG ISE in 1990 he founded the Energy consultancy Office Stahl+Weiß in Freiburg. Important first solar
projects were the Heliotrop architect Rolf Disch and the totally renewable energy supplied Solarfabrik architects
hotz+architekten. During 30 years Stahl+Weiß accompanied around 1500 buildings in energy conservation and
solar energy use.

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