Andrew Blakers

Projects under the supervision of Professor Blakers have brought in A$80 million to Australia National University. Professor Blakers is well-known as a commentator on energy and greenhouse issues.

Professor Andrew Blakers is the Foundation Director of the Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems at the Australian National University. He was a Humboldt Fellow and has held Australian Research Council QEII and Senior Research Fellowships. He was appointed to the academic staff of the University in 1991 and reached the rank of Professor in 1999. The Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems is a group of 70 staff & research students working on basic and applied solar photovoltaic and thermal energy conversion (http://solar.anu.edu.au).

He is a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering, the Institute of Energy and the Institute of Physics, and is a life member of the International Solar Energy Society and the Australian Conservation Foundation. He has published approximately 200 papers and patents. His research interests are in the areas of photovoltaic and solar energy systems, particularly advanced thin film silicon solar cell technology and solar concentrator solar cells, components and systems. He also has an interest in sustainable energy policy.

He is a member of the Research Advisory Committee of the Australian Solar Institute, the Project Evaluation Panel for the Clean Energy Research Program of Singapore, and the International Advisory Panel, Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore.

Prof Blakers is also involved in the development of Sliver Cell photovoltaic technology, which uses one-10th of the costly silicon used in conventional solar panels while matching power, performance, and efficiency. He invented the technology with colleague Dr Klaus Weber, which won both the Australian Institute of Physics' Walsh Medal.