Page 257 - ISES SWC50

Victor de Sousa
Country: Australia
Year joined industry: 1995
Company first worked for: BP Solar Pty Ltd
Technology area: PV
Still active in the industry: No

Victor de Sousa joined BP Solar in 1995 as a Project Engineer in the Sales and Marketing Team in Sydney, Australia.
He worked on numerous national and international projects, the highlight being the replacement of solar systems
and batteries for Telstra in Cape York. He held various roles including Engineering Manager, Regional Sales
Manager, Regional Commercial Manager and Global Performance and Planning Manager at BP Solar over a period
of 17 years. Victor joined Solar Juice Pty Limited, the largest distributor of solar equipment in Australia, as General
Manager for 4 years.

Renate Egan
Country: Australia
Year joined industry: 1994
Company first worked for: Pacific Solar Pty Ltd
Technology area: PV
Still active in the industry: Yes

Innovator, entrepreneur and academic, Renate Egan is passionate about using her skills to increase the uptake of
solar and accelerate the energy transition. Recently described as one of Eight Great Women in the Business of
Science and Solar by Renewable Energy World, she has led manufacturing and industrial technology development
of energy technologies in Australia, Germany & China. Renate is currently, Chair of Solar Analytics, leads the UNSW
activity in the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics and represents Australia on the IEA solar program
PVPS. Renate started her Solar Pioneer journey with Pacific Solar Pty Ltd in 1994, in the first year of the company.
Before joining Pacific Solar, Renate had been working in opto-electronics and optical fibre technologies. As a
material scientist, Pacific Solar presented an opportunity to work in an emerging industry in Australia where she felt
she could make a real & significant contribution. Renate worked with Pacific Solar to develop its thin film silicon on
glass technology. Starting as a research scientist, Renate progressed to Pilot Line Manager. When the technology
was ready to commercialise, Renate moved to Germany, with the team to set up CSG Solar AG, ultimately becoming
CTO. CSG Solar built a 20 MW production line in 2005. This was big then! and the team delivered on the promise
of 7% thin film modules, with a path to over 10%. Renate still has 1kW of CSG Solar panels powering her home. In
2007, Chinese module manufacturing had ramped up, bringing the beginnings of the vast manufacturing capability
we all benefit from now. In 2009 CSG Solar the technology team came back to Australia and formed Suntech R&D
Australia, under Renate’s leadership as Managing Director. With a team of 15 Australian engineers, SRDA led long-
term technology development for Suntech, then the world’s largest module manufacturer. In 2014, Renate (i) joined
the APVI as Chair, following Muriel Watt,(ii) co-founded Solar Analytics P/L, and, (iii) joined UNSW to run a research
program with Prof Martin Green.

ISES SWC50 - The Century of Solar-Stories and Visions | 239