Page 214 - ISES SWC50

Mark Twidell
Country: Australia
Year joined industry: 1986
Company first worked for: BP Solar
Technology area: PV
Still active in the industry: Yes

Mark Twidell first came to Australia in 1986 as an engineering intern with BP Solar and has been privileged to
have worked with many talented, committed and wonderfully people that have been involved in growth of the PV
industry from kW to GW scale. This involved the early remote area power systems, at the time the words largest
village electrification programs in Sri Lanka, first Solar suburb for the Sydney Olympics, first MW scale system in
China, working with Industry and Government on early programs that helped build scale, lower costs .Mark has
worked in Australia, India, USA and Europe in Solar related industry and government leadership roles. Past roles
have been Managing Director of SMA, CEO of the Australian Solar Institute and a variety of leadership roles during
20 years with BP Solar. He has served on the Boards of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) the
Clean Energy Council (CEC) and various private sector companies throughout Asia Pacific through his roles with
SMA and BP. Since May 2016 Mark has been leading Tesla’s growth into the Asia Pacific energy markets with
the mission is to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy through storage deployment. This has included
installing the world’s largest battery in South Australia, Virtual Power Plants that deliver lower cost electricity to
consumers and micro-grids from remote and island communities across the region. Mark has an Electrical and
Electronic Engineering degree from the University of Edinburgh and an MBA from Sydney University. Mark is the
son of a pioneering renewable energy academic and proud father of a budding solar installer!

Sudhanshu Varma
Country: Canada
Year joined industry: 1983
Company first worked for: Central Electronics Limited in India
Technology area: PV
Still active in the industry: Yes

Dr. Sudhanshu Varma was initially involved in solar cell research for eight years in India before joining Central
Electronics Limited in 1983. He was responsible for commercial production of solar modules. He moved to Canada
in 1984 and worked at TPK Solar Systems Ltd. from 1984 till 1988. He played a lead role in the development of
solar cell and module manufacturing technologies, development of solar cell and module production and testing
equipment, supply of solar cell and module production equipment and complete lines on turnkey basis to customers
in India, China, Rumania, The Netherlands, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Although China is now global leader in solar
cell and module manufacturing, the first silicon wafer, solar cell and module manufacturing plant in China was
set up on turnkey basis by TPK in Kunming in 1986. Dr. Varma led the module production line installation and
technology transfer teams to customers’ sites in Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. Dr. Varma started his own company,
Supan Technologies Inc in Ottawa, Canada to focus on solar business. Supan offers solar business consulting
services including advise on solar manufacturing equipment and technology. Supan offered Dr. Varma’s services to
NewSun Technology Ltd in Ottawa in 2000, where he acted as Director of Technology till 2002 to supply turnkey
solar cell production lines to customers in Norway and Taiwan. Supan Group has now grown to about a dozen
companies and Dr. Varma is CEO of these companies. He is involved in solar power project development in Canada
and other countries, solar system design, solar power project implementation on EPC basis, and co-owning and
operating a few rooftop solar projects. Supan has formed a joint Canadian company with Switzerland based
The Meeco Group, which is named Oursun Canada Inc. and Dr. Varma is CEO of this company as well.

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