Sunways board shrinks as CFO steps down

After three years, Bernd Fessler, CFO of the German solar cell and inverter manufacturer Sunways AG, leaves the company on Dec. 31. 

© National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Celebrity: Ajeet Rohatgi has won the second annual Rappaport Award for his achievements in US PV R&D.

The founding director of the University Center of Excellence for Photovoltaics Research and Education at the Georgia Institute of Technology received the symbolic prize at an NREL event in Denver in Dec. 2003. He was honored for his achievements in developing low-cost and high-efficiency solar cells, says NREL director Richard Truly. 

Rohatgi, who began his research in PV devices in 1977, currently serves as professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. He has published more than 275 papers, achieved several solar cell record efficiencies, holds ten US patents, and is current laureate of the IEEE PV Specialists Conference's Cherry Award (see PI 7/2003, p. 33). 


NREL initiated the national Rappaport Award in 2002 in celebration of the laboratory's 25^th anniversary. It is named after NREL´s first director, who served the laboratory from 1977 for two years. The 2002 award went to Waverly Power and Light, an Iowa-based utility engaged in wind energy. 

Iris Krampitz
© PHOTON International, February 2004