Who's Who: Profiles of Early PV Pioneers

The most successful organizations are built on groups of good people. The Who's Who discussed in this chapter is therefore an inevitably incomplete record of key people active in the early photovoltaic (PV) sector. One of the first Scandinavian scientists to recognize PV's potential, Tapio Alvesalo led the region's leading early solar business. Tapio recognized the synergies between the nascent PV technology and this division's activities in advanced energy storage, hydrogen, and electric vehicles. He proposed a new corporate business venture, Neste Advanced Power Systems. The PV business grew strongly under his leadership, establishing overseas ventures and selling globally. Hubert Aulich is one of the longest serving solar specialists in Germany and an expert on PV materials. He was managing director of PV Electric, Siemens joint venture with Arco Solar
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, where he worked on commercialization of amorphous silicon thin film technology with Peter Aschenbrenner
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and others.