Solar pioneer Muriel Watt, who helped plug in first grid connected PV system, gets Australia Day gong

Australian solar pioneer Dr Muriel Watt, an Australian Solar Hall of Famer who helped plug in the country’s first grid connected PV system, has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her “significant services to the photovoltaic and renewable energy sector” in the 2024 Australia Day Honours List.

Dr Watt has been a champion of the solar industry for more than 40 years, and her work on solar technologies and policy advocacy and insights has been widely admired. RenewEconomy has been one of the many beneficiaries of her insight and counsel over the past decade.

Current and former colleagues have congratulated Dr Watt on the AM, noting that she first joined the Australian and New Zealand Solar Energy society in 1980.

Her early work included leading the Renewables branch of the NSW Government Energy agency, which led in turn to the Remote Area Power Supply Assistance scheme which supported a nascent industry get to kilowatt scale. 

“In the early 1990s, she was involved in the installation of the first grid connected PV system in Eastern Australia at UNSW’s SolArch facility, and has advocated for the role of rooftop solar in energy transition ever since,” the colleagues write.

“Installing rooftop solar these days is a no-brainer, but in those days a 1kW PV system cost $15,000. Nevertheless, Muriel was convinced of the huge potential of the technology to reduce in cost as it scaled and came down the learning curve. 

“In her founding role at the Australian PV Institute (APVI, formerly APVA), she spent much time convincing others of PV’s potential, and explaining how it could be realised with the right policy settings, including through numerous submissions to government. 

“She has been a driving force globally for knowledge sharing to support the PV industry, compiling the PV in Australia report for the IEA PV Power Systems program for many years, and initiating and chairing the first Asia Pacific Solar Research Conference.”

 In 2008, Dr Watt joined ITP Renewables as head of Energy Policy and Photovoltaics, where she has led key reviews and analyses   for Australia and Pacific Island countries.  In her local community in Northern NSW she has been actively involved in Zero Emissions Byron.  

More recently across various capacities such as a member of ARENA’s expert Advisory Panel she has served a  sector now at gigawatt (one million kilowatts) scale, leading a new study into the potential for PV manufacture in Australia. 

Dr Watt has been associated with UNSW over more than 25 years, where she – alongside Professors Martin Green and the late Stuart Wenham – helped establish the world’s first undergraduate PV engineering degree.

She has taught, supervised and mentored many hundreds of graduates who have gone onto key roles in the clean energy sector. In particular she has been an inspiration to women in the traditionally male dominated energy sector.  

ITP Renewables celebrated the honour on LinkedIn, to which Dr Watt responded: “Thank you everyone – it truly is a great honour and one I will share with all the dedicated PV people who I have worked with over the 40 plus years it has taken us to get to where we are!

She told RenewEconomy: “I haven’t been able to achieve anything without the incredible contributions of my colleagues. It’s been such an exciting industry to be involved in. I’m trying to retire, but I can’t, there is too much going on!”