Richard Swanson (pictured), CTO and cofounder of SunPower, is the 2010 recipient of the IEEE Jun-ichi Nishizawa medal, which is sponsored by the Federation of Electric Power Companies, Japan, and the Semiconductor Research Foundation, Japan. The medal was awarded for Swanson’s concept and commercialization of high-efficiency point-contact crystalline-silicon solar cell technology.
Paul Garrity has been named as Enecsys’s head of advanced solar PV micro-inverter development. Joining the company from his former role as VP of engineering and advanced product development at FlexPower (a subsidiary of Flextronics International), Garrity brings over 20 years of power electronics experience to this post.
Q-Cells' general meeting on June 24 of the supervisory board will hold an election for a new board member, with Karlheinz Hornung as the nominated party. Current board member, Andre Lee, has resigned from his office. Incumbent chairman, Marcel Brenninkmeijer, will make the office as chairman available and propose Hornung for this position at the general meeting as well, if Hornung is elected to the supervisory board. Brenninkmeijer will continue as a member of the board for Q-Cells.
Khosla Ventures has formed a partnership with Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's company, Tony Blair Associates. The partnership is aimed at helping Khosla's clean technology companies maximize effectiveness in achieving environmental goals. As part of the relationship, Blair joined Vinod Khosla on May 23 to tour the Calera green cement demonstration plant in Moss Landing, Calif.
Q-Cells supervisory board has hired Dr. Marion Helmes as the new CFO, effective July 1, 2010. Dr. Helmes comes to the CFO post after Dr. Nedim Cen, who has held the position on a temporary basis since March, while also serving as chairman for Q-Cells board of directors.
Solarbuzz has announced Finlay Colville as the new senior analyst who will be in charge of improving the company’s reporting on solar manufacturing equipment, which includes technologies and trends and forecasts in the solar industry. The new appointment comes after Solarbuzz’s recent acquisition by the NPD Group last month.
Michael Trousseau, former chief operating officer of EDF Energies, was informed by the company’s board of directors that he would have to leave his position with the company. The departure was announced at the board’s April 15 meeting.
Dr. Weiming Zhang (pictured left) has been selected as the new vice president of technology for the PV business unit of Heraeus Photovoltaics. His new position will see him leading and expanding an international group of scientists, engineers and technicians while also developing and implementing strategies to amplify Heraeus’ product channel, customer collaboration and market penetration.
Equity Solar has appointed Greg Knight, formerly of GT Solar, as its chief technology officer. Knight was brought on board to assist in the commercialization of the room temperature wet chemical growth (RTWCG) technology licensed by Equity Solar.
Ranier Aringhoff has been appointed as chief operating officer and management board member of the Desertec Industrial Initiative joint venture. The former president of Solar Millennium will be responsible for the conceptual preparation and planning of reference projects.
