One of the winners of the coveted Global Energy prize this year is photovoltaics pioneer Professor Martin Green. He is the first Australian to win the honor that comes with over $820,000 prize money. He will share the prize with Russian Scientist Sergey Alekseenko who specializes in thermal power engineering.
Green is the Director of the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney. He has won the award for 'revolutionizing the efficiency and costs of solar photovoltaics, making this now the lowest cost option for bulk electricity supply'.
Over the years, there has been around 90% reduction in costs in PV. This is directly related to Green's research and his students' efforts in establishing manufacturing in low-cost regions of Asia, according to the Global Energy Prize website. The founder of Suntech, Zhengrong Shi, studied at UNSW as well as Jianhua Zhao, a co-founder of CSUN, and many other solar leaders in China.
Green is credited as being the inventor of the PERC technology, which has just finally become the new standard in mono cell manufacturing. In fact, researchers around the globe are now innovating to bring PERC to the next level, as shown in the latest TaiyangNews PERC Solar Cell Technology 2018 Report.
Since 2003, the Global Energy Prize is awarded annually to people who are responsible for leading edge breakthroughs in the field of energy. Green and Sergey were adjudged winners from a list of 44 scientists considered for the award this year. Tesla boss Elon Musk was among the 10 shortlisted finalists.
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