Exodus for a place in the sun

In an Ernst & Young 2006 survey that ranked international markets by their attractiveness to renewable energy investors, Australia ranked 16th – fourth from the bottom. So it should come as no surprise that a significant number of Australians, well known in the sustainable energy industry, have been tempted by greener pastures.

Those names include David Hogg, David Mills from the University of Sydney, whose solar thermal technology is being funded in Silicon Valley, California, and the Australian citizen Zhengrong Shi, a PhD student from the University of NSW’s groundbreaking photovoltaics laboratory, who is now one of the richest men in mainland China.
Shi’s Suntech Power Holdings floated on the New York Stock Exchange in December, the first non-government Chinese company to list there. Shi was attracted back to China after representatives of the Wuxi region approached him with an offer of $US6 million ($7 million) to establish a solar cell manufacturing plant.

Australian innovation is also energising industries and employment overseas. The University of NSW’s buried grid solar cell technology was licensed to BP Solar in Spain.

Key technologies for solar hot water such as selective coating and evacuated tubes, developed by Sydney University and local industry, are being used in manufacturing in China.

Mills says three-quarters of the world’s solar collectors are made in China and 80 per cent of those use University of Sydney technology. While stronger venture capital markets are part of the attraction overseas, some push factors are assisting the flow of expertise and innovation offshore.

The Federal Government may have introduced a range of renewable incentives recently, but they pale in comparison to the deeper green of overseas initiatives, say key renewable industry players and environmental groups.

Sydney Morning Herald