RenewEconomy’s Giles Parkinson inducted into Solar Hall of Fame

RenewEconomy founder and editor Giles Parkinson has been inducted into the Smart Energy Council Solar Hall of Fame, in a ceremony at the SEC Conference and Exhibition in Sydney on Wednesday.

Parkinson, a veteran journalist and former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review, founded RenewEconomy more than a decade ago as Australia’s only independent news source dedicated to renewable energy.

He was inducted into the SEC Solar Hall of Fame on Wednesday alongside solar veteran and regular RenewEconomy contributor and Solar Insiders co-host Nigel Morris, and Australian solar industry stalwarts Renate Egan and Steve Blume.

Professor Egan has been a luminary at the University of New South Wales and leads its activities in the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics. She is also the long-standing chair of the Australian PV Institute (APVI).

Blume is president of the Smart Energy Council and director of the Global Solar Council, as well as treasurer of the New Zealand & Pacific Solar & Storage Council; director of Australian Institute of Energy; and CEO of NoCarbon Pty Ltd. In these roles, he works to amplify the voice of the smart energy, energy storage and solar industries.

Morris, who has notched up 30 years’ experience in solar energy describes his current role as a solar technology advocate. He is also co-host of RenewEconomy podcast Solar Insiders and host of the Great Solar Business podcast.

In a speech introducing the new inductees on Wednesday morning, SEC chief John Grimes described Parkinson as “prolific” and “an absolute bastion, in terms of communicating what this industry does.

“Not only that, but he’s not fooled by the BS. He’s not put off the scent, and so he calls it right every single time,” Grimes added.

Parkinson, who joins solar luminaries the calibre of Professor Martin Green, Dr Muriel Wall and Dr Zhengrong Shi in the SEC’s Hall of Fame, had this to say:

“It’s been a great pleasure to write about all the work that you people out there have been doing, whether it’s in research, or production, or policy advocacy, or just changing the whole culture of the industry.

“There’s some exciting things happening at the moment, and maybe in a few weeks time we can declare freedom day from stupidity and and bloody mindedness and get on with the job!”

Congratulations, boss!