Dr zhengrong shi, chief executive officer of Suntech, the world's largest solar photovoltaic company, recently wrote an article titled ‘Can Australia save the world?’. Dr Shi observed that the United Kingdom had shown the world the way to use coal for energy and that the United States had shown the world how to harness atomic power. He asked whether it would be Australia and China that would show the world how to best use solar power.

The answer to Dr Shi's question is a resounding ‘yes’.

Dr Shi is an Australian citizen and former researcher at the University of New South Wales’ School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering. The school has had a quite extraordinary impact on the global photovoltaic industry. Four of the top six global manufacturers in solar photovoltaic technology are linked with the University of New South Wales. Beyond Suntech, there is the world's second largest manufacturer, JA Solar, also founded by former researchers at the school. Trina Solar, the fourth largest, was founded by one of its PhD graduates. The technology of the sixth largest, Yingli Green Energy Holding, was piloted by another graduate of the school.

In fact, the influence is so great that the school refers to these graduates and former researchers as its ‘gigawatt club’—the group of former staff and students whose global firms now produce more than a gigawatt of solar products a year.