
The Victoria-Suntech Advanced Solar Facility (VSASF) was officially launched today in Melbourne, with the Victorian Minister for Environment and Climate Change, and Innovation, Gavin Jennings MLC, on hand to commemorate the event. The facility, which is a collaborative venture between Swinburne University of Technology and Suntech Power Holdings, has been partially funded by a AU$3 million grant under the Victorian Science Agenda Investment Fund. The collaboration will provide a platform for the partners to commercialise NANOPLAS, a "revolutionary nanoplasmonic solar cell technology being developed at Swinburne."
Heading up the VSASF will be Professor Min Gu, Director of the Swinburne Centre for Micro-Photonics, and Dr. Zhengrong Shi, Suntech's Chairman and CEO as well as a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. According to Professor Gu the group's strong mix of research and business expertise will put them in a unique position to research, develop and commercialise the innovative solar cell technology.
Professor Gu went on to add that a major advantage of the VSASF is that it will allow Swinburne researchers to work closely with Suntech throughout the research and development stages. This will ensure that the NANOPLAS technology can be easily transferred to the production line and complement Suntech's industry-leading Pluto(TM) solar cell technology.
Cooperation between Suntech and Swinburne began in April 2009 when the two parties announced their partnership for the development of nanoplasmonic solar technology
[source: Suntech]