Year - 2026

Lifetime Achievement for the Advancement of Renewables

Professor Andrew Blakers

Professor of Engineering at the Australian National University

Professor Andrew Blakers is Professor of Engineering at the Australian National University and one of the world’s leading authorities on solar photovoltaic technology and renewable energy systems. Throughout his career, he has secured more than US$120 million in competitive research funding to advance pioneering work in renewable power, energy systems engineering, and solar cells. His research has made significant contributions to the development of silicon solar cells, solar concentrator systems, photovoltaic tandems, pumped hydro energy storage, and energy policy, economics, and markets, particularly in the context of achieving 100% renewable energy systems.

Professor Blakers has published 500 scientific papers and patents. He has received numerous national and international awards for his contributions to renewable energy innovation, including the ATSE Clunies Ross Technology Innovation Award (2024), the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (2023), the Eureka Prize for Environmental Research (2018), and the Australian Engineering Excellence Award (2007).

He was a co-inventor of Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell (PERC) silicon solar cell technology, which has generated cumulative module sales exceeding US$200 billion worldwide. He was also a co-inventor of sliver solar cell technology, which became the focus of a A$240 million commercialisation programme by Transform Solar and generated more than A$11 million in royalties for the Australian National University.

Professor Blakers has also played a central role in building Australia’s renewable energy research capability. He founded the Australian National University Photovoltaic Group and served as the Foundation Director of the Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems, Director of the ARC Centre for Solar Energy Systems, Node Director of the ARENA Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics, and Node Director of the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Renewable Energy.

In recent years, Professor Blakers has focused on advancing pathways to 100% renewable electricity systems. His team developed the global pumped hydro energy storage atlas, which is widely used by businesses and governments and lists 820,000 sites around the world with a combined storage capacity 200 times that required for a fully renewable global energy system.