PRESS RELEASE
Many people would remember the amazing story of Australian citizen, PV scientist and industry heavyweight Dr. Zhengrong Shi, the founder of Suntech Power.
Dr Shi, who is an Australian citizen and is currently a senior tenure professor at the University of New South Wales, has this week been recognized for his vision, innovation and contribution to the world’s future through solar energy.
Dr Shi was awarded the 2019 Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah International Energy Award for Lifetime Achievement for the Advancement of Renewable Energy, in Doha the capital city of Qatar.
The award recognized that Suntech Power led the movement that drastically reduced the costs of photovoltaic (PV) panels worldwide, and his impressive research portfolio, including 60 patents and 100 published papers.
“I feel very accomplished as I received this award in the empire of oil. This means PV is changing the dominant role of fossil fuel in energy industry“ said Dr Shi.
Most recently Dr. Shi has continued his innovations in PV technology with Australian company SunMan, who has developed a glass free lightweight, thin and flexible “PV skin” product.
Weighing a fraction of conventional solar panels, but with a similar output per area, this technology opens light weight structures, building integrated PV, mobile power generators and so on.
Many customers who have been stopped from installing conventional solar PV due to weight and loading issues, now have a path forward.
The product has been so far been successfully launched in Australia, Japan, China and Europe.
Dr. Shi received numerous awards through his career, including PVSEC excellent contribution award in 2005, Zayed Future Energy Award in 2010, the Murphy & Spitz Global Leader Award 2011 at the World Economic Forum.
In 2009, he was on Business Week’s “China’s Most Powerful People” list. In 2007, Dr. Shi was named “50 people who could save the planet” by The Guardian, and was named by TIME as a Hero of the Environment, an annual list that celebrates the most innovative and influential protectors of the planet.
In 2006, he was awarded the “Anual Economic Figure” by CCTV and was honored as the “Green Figure of the Year” by CCTV in 2007 in China.
