Aussie energy expert praises Chinese entrepreneur

Australian scientist Professor Martin Green is known as the "Father of Photovoltaics".

On Tuesday, Green spoke at the Nobel Laureates Beijing Forum 2013 and shared his insights on the development of the photovoltaic industry in China and around the world.

"I am not an expert on air pollution, but obviously the cleaner the source of electricity generation, the less pollution there is going to be worry about."

Over the last few decades, China has relied greatly on coal to fuel its economic growth, which caused the air pollution.

"China has taken the lead in implementing technology such as solar and wind energy, so the prospects are good that in the future the country will rely less upon the coal as a source of electricity generation."

Beijing plans to cut the total amount of coal consumed for electricity generation from 23 million to 10 million in the next five years, said Li Shixiang, executive deputy mayor of Beijing,

When asked about the "trade war" between China and US on PV products, Green said he was surprised to see tariffs imposed on China. "I think the technical and legal base for imposing such tariffs seems very weak," he said.

Green said the overcapacity in the Chinese PV market is a natural process of consolidation within the industry, as some companies try to reduce manufacturing costs and boost profits.

"The last two years have been very tough," he said. "But just in the last quarter, some companies have announced their return to profitability. It is a turning point. Those companies that were able to survive can look forward to a better time because of the reduction in costs and oversupply."

Suntech Power is one of the Chinese PV companies that is enduring this tough period. Its founder and former CEO Shi Zhengrong was one of Green's students. Despite the company's difficult situation, Green remains optimistic. "The worst has passed for the company, and it can look forward to a bright future," he said.

Green also spoke highly of his former student, Shi Zhengrong, "All the big names within the Chinese solar manufacturing industry followed his recipe, so in a certain sense we could say Dr Shi was the father of Chinese solar industry."

"I have been appointed as the honorary president of a research institute of China Guodian," Green said. "I hope that through the research activities at this new institute, we can develop photovoltaics more quickly, and allow Guodian to use them at a large scale within their electricity generation networks."