Suntech CTO Stuart Wenham Receives William R. Cherry Award for Outstanding Achievements in PV Technology

The William R. Cherry award recognizes engineers and scientists who have significantly advanced the technology of photovoltaic energy conversion.

Dr. Zhengrong Shi, Suntech's Chairman and CEO said, "The distinguished William R. Cherry award honors Dr. Wenham's important contributions to PV industry knowledge and progress through a celebrated career spanning three decades. His breakthrough achievements have advanced our industry standards and are highly regarded by experts around the world. On behalf of Suntech, we congratulate him on this prestigious honor and his outstanding accomplishments in the field of solar PV."

"My interest and research in photovoltaic technology has always been based on enabling widespread global adoption of solar energy as a clean, durable and affordable solution," said Dr. Stuart Wenham. "I am honored to accept this award and to be recognized among the inspiring scientists and supporters who are bringing solar PV to the forefront of global energy and environmental action."

Dr. Wenham has helped lead the development effort at the University of New South Wales' ARC Photovoltaics Centre of Excellence on solar technology, which has set world records for solar conversion efficiencies. Dr. Wenham has also played a leading role in the development of Suntech's new Pluto technology, which routinely produces PV cells with conversion efficiencies of approximately 19% on mono-crystalline cells and 17% on multi-crystalline cells. Suntech anticipates ongoing enhancement of the Pluto technology and anticipates achieving 20% conversion efficiency on monocrystalline PV cells and 18% on polycrystalline PV cells within the next 2 years.

Dr. Wenham continued, "Of all the technologies I have been involved with developing and commercialising over the last 30 years, the Pluto technology is the one that really excites me. This is not just because of the high performance and low cost already being achieved by Suntech, but also because of Pluto's future potential for further performance increases, its excellent low light performance, and minimal light induced degradation. We look forward to implementing further iterations of Pluto within the next two years to achieve even higher conversion efficiencies, which is integral to Suntech's drive to reach grid parity."

The prestigious Cherry award is named in honor of William R. Cherry, one of the founders of the photovoltaic community. The award, which is given to one person annually or bi-annually, recognizes outstanding engineers and scientists who have made significant contributions to the science and technology of PV energy conversion, with dissemination by substantial publications and presentations. World-recognized PV scientist Professor Martin Green from the University of New South Wales is a previous recipient of the award. For more information about the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference and Cherry award, please visit http://www.34pvsc.org/index.php?page=cherry_award .

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