Page 216 - ISES SWC50

Stuart Wenham (1957-2017)
Country: Australia
Year joined industry: 1981
Company first worked for: Tideland Energy
Technology area: PV
Still active in the industry: No

Stuart Wenham worked with Dr Bruce Godfrey in the early 1980s to set up Australia’s first solar cell manufacturing
lines for Tideland Energy in Brookvale on Sydney’s northern beaches. The following decade, Stuart worked closely
with BP Solar (after they bought Tideland Energy) to commercialise the Buried Contact Solar Cell, which he invented
during his PhD under Prof. Martin Green at UNSW. The buried contact solar cell was awarded the CSIRO Medal
for research of commercial significance in 1992 and judged one of the “Top 100 Australian inventions of the 20th
century” by the Academy of Technology and Engineering in 2001. Known as BP’s ‘Saturn’ technology, it was sold
all over the world, including to one of the world’s first MW scale power plants in Toledo, Spain. Stuart invented or
co-invented eight classes of solar cell technologies that have been licensed to manufacturers around the world, now
valued at hundreds of millions of dollars annually. In the 1990s Zhengrong Shi founded Suntech Power, with Stuart
as Chief Technology Officer. Suntech then grew to be the largest PV cell manufacturer in the world. In more than
a decade in this role, Stuart managed hundreds of scientists and engineers on a range of R&D projects. Through
successfully commercialising his laser doping, plating and hydrogenation technologies as ‘Pluto’, Suntech Power
made the first 20.3% efficient commercial cell. Stuart’s Advanced Hydrogenation technology, which could boost
the lifetime of solar cells over one hundred times, won him the 2013 A.F. Harvey Engineering Prize. Just before
his passing in 2017, eight industry partners signed agreements with UNSW to use this technology in production.
Stuart further advanced industry through driving the creation of the world’s first PV degree (at UNSW). He also
co-developed the “Virtual Production Line” software which simulates PV production lines for manufacturers to
optimise processes, and for students to learn. Another of Stuart’s legacies is the Solar Industrial Research Facility
(SIRF) at UNSW, which enables UNSW researchers to implement world-leading lab developments on commercial
tools to rapidly advance the process of solar technology transfer to industry.

V John White

Country: United States
Year joined industry: 1989
Company first worked for: CEERT
Technology area: Policy
Still active in the industry: Yes

V. John White is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Technologies. Founded in 1990 by a group of renewable developers, including solar thermal pioneer Luz, CEERT
is a unique partnership between environmental public interest groups, and renewable energy and clean tech
companies. John has played a leading role in designing, negotiating, and advocating innovative public policy
solutions to accelerate renewable development and decarbonize the power sector. In addition to leading campaigns
for renewable procurement, CEERT has worked to remove barriers to renewable development. The Renewable
Energy Transmission Initiative was a consensus-based stakeholder process, organized by CEERT, which led to
the alignment of transmission planning and the build out of renewable development zones. John also established
and facilitated a unique collaboration between environmental groups and utility scale solar and wind developers,
to negotiate, siting, permitting, and planning of more than 10,000 megawatts of utility scale projects in California.
In 2004-5, John worked with CEERT co-founder Jan McFarland, on the legislation and regulatory initiatives which
became the million solar roofs initiative, which provided $3 billion over 10 years to support the rapid expansion of
rooftop solar. Since the early 1980’s, John has been a leading advocate and political consultant working on solutions
and strategies to reduce air pollution and global warming from fossil fuel power plants, including AB 32, the Global
Warming Solutions Act. He has also worked with local activists and political leaders in Los Angeles to reform and
revitalize the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, leading to the phase out of their reliance on coal and
expanded renewables. In 2019, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that LADWP would shut down its last remaining
coal plant, phase out reliance on natural gas, and achieve 100% clean energy by 2035.

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