IEEE SCV-PV monthly meeting -- Richard Swanson, SunPower

description

The charter of the IEEE Santa Clara Valley PhotoVoltaic Joint Society Chapter (formerly known as Silicon Valley Photovoltaics Society, SVPVS) is to create a forum for entrepreneurs, business people, investors, engineers and scientists, who are active or interested in photovoltaics cleantech or related technologies. The society has a monthly meeting with an invited seminar and abundant networking opportunity. No registration is required.

In this meeting, Dr. Richard Swanson, a solar hall-of-famer, will provide his view of the solar industry, his take on the DOE's SunShot program, and welcome questions from the audience in a town-hall format session. The presentation will be relatively brief and audience participation is strongly encouraged.

presenter(s)

Richard Swanson received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1974. In 1976, Swanson joined the faculty at Stanford University where he and his group conceived and developed the point-contact solar cell. Laboratory versions of these cells achieved a record 28 percent conversion efficiency in concentrator cells and 23 percent large-area one-sun cells. In 1991, Swanson resigned from his faculty position to devote full time to SunPower Corporation, a company he founded to develop and commercialize cost-effective photovoltaic power systems. Swanson currently serves as its president emeritus. Along with his students and co-workers, Swanson has published more than 200 articles in journals and conference proceedings, as well as several book chapters. In 2002, Swanson received the William R. Cherry award by the IEEE for outstanding contributions to the photovoltaic field, and in 2006 he was awarded the Becquerel Prize in Photovoltaics from the European Communities. Most recently, Swanson received the Economist’s Innovation Award for Energy, the 2010 IEEE Jun-ichi Nishizawa Medal and Environment, the Karl Boer Solar Energy Medal of Merit.