Ms. Elizabeth Dipuo Peters

Minister of Energy of the Republic of South Africa

Vivian Alberts

Vivian Alberts is a full professor of the Department of Physics at the University of Johannesburg and Managing Director of PTIP (Pty) Ltd. He studied at the University of Port Elizabeth, South Africa between 1985 and 1993 when he obtained his Ph.D. Alberts has more than 20 years of combined experience in the development and technical management of R&D laboratories and semi-commercial facilities, basic and applied research as well as process and product development related to Semiconductor Physics and PV Technologies.

Alberts received numerous scientific awards from universities and institutions based in South Africa and abroad. He lectured at the University of Port Elizabeth and the University of Johannesburg. He was also a guest professor at the University of Konstanz.

He presented more than 50 technical papers at national conferences (SAIP & MSSA) over the past 20 years. Eighteen post graduate students completed their MSc and PhD studies in the field of PV under his supervision between 1994 and 2008. Alberts was invited by numerous international journals to act as a referee for scientific papers, and served as chairman and/or member of the organizing committees of national and international conferences.

Dr Yogi Goswami

Dr. D. Yogi Goswami is the John and Naida Ramil Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department and Co-Director of the Clean Energy Research Center at the University of South Florida

Prof. Dr Harmut Grassl

Hartmut Graßl is the Director emeritus at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, and retired Professor of the University of Hamburg (Germany). He studied at the University of Munich and obtained a Diploma in Physics in November 1966, and a Ph.D. in Meteorology in June 1970.

His area of research includes satellite-supported remote sensing; remote sensing of the lower atmosphere with lidar and radar; aerosols and climate; global climate change. Throughout his career, he was a member and/or served on several scientific boards and councils that focus on climate, environmental and energy matters.

Grassl has won numerous awards, the first of which was the Young Scientist Award of the German Meteorological Society, 1971, and the latest was the Bayerisches Verdienstkreuz (Bavarian Order of Merit), which was awarded to him in 2008.

Kannan Lakmeeharan

Kannan Lakmeeharan is the Managing Director of the System Operations and Planning Division of Eskom. The division is responsible for the real time security of the national power system and the long term electricity capacity and transmission grid planning for the country.

Prior to this appointment he has been responsible for the System Operator and for the Electrical Engineering disciplines in Eskom Enterprises.

He has also had experience in the mining industry. Lakmeeharan has an M.Eng in Electrical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand. He is a past recipient of the SAIEE Young Achiever of the Year (2002) and the CIGRE Technical Committee Award (2007).

Dr. Harry Lehmann

Dr. Harry Lehmann is head of Environmental Planning and Sustainable Strategies at the Federal Environment Agency of Germany. Over the pas 26 years, his career highlights include:
• 1983–1991: Head of the Consultancy “UHL Data” – Systemanalyse und Simulation im Bereich Energie- und Umwelttechnik.
• 1991–2000: Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy
• 2000–2006: Vice president of Eurosolar
• 2000–2002: Member of the Enquete Commission ‘Sustainable energy supply under the boundaries of globalisation and liberalisation’ of the German Parliament
• 2000–2003: Solutions and Innovations Unit Director, Greenpeace International
• since 2001: Member of the “World Council for Renewable Energies”
• 2001–2004: Head of the “Institute for Sustainable Solutions and Innovations”
• since 2004: General Director at the Federal Environment Agency of Germany
• since 2004: President of the „Factor 10 Club“
His special interests include sustainable development, technologies, scenarios and policies; dematerialisation and renewable energy.

Ms. Monica Oliphant

Monica Oliphant is currently President of the International Solar Energy Society (ISES). She is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of South Australia in the Sustainable Energy Centre and runs a consultancy in the areas of Renewable Energy and Residential Energy Efficiency.

She worked as a principal research scientist for 18 years at the South Australian Electricity Utility, ETSA, undertaking end-use monitoring, energy analysis and renewable energy projects. She has participated on a number of Australian Federal and State Government Committees. The main ones being Australia’s Mandatory Renewable Energy Target Review and the South Australian Premier’s Round Table in Sustainability. She recently was appointed as a Board Member of the CSIRO Energy Transformed Flagship and Renewables SA.

Peet du Plooy

Peet du Plooy is a sustainability activist with a background in mechanical engineering. Having received a bursary from Eskom, he completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Pretoria in 1998. For the next six years he worked at the Eskom Research and Development division on numerical optimization of coal combustion. In 2004, he joined WWF as Trade and Investment Advisor for South Africa. His professional passions are sustainability economics, renewable energy, electric transport, information and communication technology and land-based carbon.

Dr. Hermann Scheer

Dr Hermann Scheer studied economics, sociology, political science and public law between 1967 and 1972 at the University of Heidelberg and the Free University of Berlin. He received his PhD in Economic and Social Science in 1972. He was appointed Assistant Professor at the Technical University of Stuttgart in the Faculty of Economics, 1972-76. He holds a Doctor honoris causa from the Technical University of Varna (Bulgaria).

Scheer’s versatility is evident from his career-path, which included:
• 1976-1980: System Analysts at the German Nuclear Research Center
• 1980-2005: served several terms in the German Parliament
• 1990-1993: Chairman of the Arms Control and Disarmament Committee
• 1994-1997: Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture

In 1988 he founded the non-profit European Renewable Energy Association EUROSOLAR, and in 2001 the non-profit World Council for Renewable Energy (WCRE). Through these institutions Dr Scheer elaborated his original policy concepts for renewable energy disseminations, and initiated legal frameworks in Germany and the European Union. Dr Scheer’s work is dedicated to a broad shift in the energy basis of modern civilization: from fossil and nuclear resources to renewable energies. Dr Scheer has chaired and initiated numerous international research and development conferences.

Alexandros Tombazis

Alexandros Tombazis is an internationally renowned Greek architect who has a particular interest and expertise in solar architecture. Tombazis was born in India on 10 April 1939, and graduated at the School of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens in 1962 (with honours).
He is a member of leading professional organisations and societies, including the international and American solar energy societies, the American Institute of Architects and the Greek Architect Association. Tombazis has published widely and there are numerous references about his work in books and magazines both in Greece and abroad.
He has won prizes in approximately 110 national, invited and international competitions. Tombazis also participated on a number of occasions as a member of different juries of international and national architectural competitions, such as the E.C. DG XII Competitions, EUROPAN Competitions, PLEA Competitions etc.

Prof. Eicke Weber

Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and Professor of Physics and Applied Sciences at the Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany

Richard Worthington

Richard Worthington is Manager: Climate Change Programme at WWF-SA, tasked with building up a team for national advocacy work and developing the South African role in the ‘New Global Deal’ Network Initiative, a key focus area of WWF internationally.

He obtained a B.A. degree from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1984 and received a BSc Honours (cum laude) in Energy Studies at the University of Johannesburg in 2006.

For the previous seven years Richard was the Project Co-ordinator of the Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Project (SECCP) a project of Earthlife Africa Johannesburg, a voluntary, non-government organisation, which aims to mobilize civil society support for a just transition to sustainable energy and responsible climate change policies and measures.

Richard served as Co-ordinator of the South African Climate Action Network (SACAN) from 2001 – 2009 and was a member of the Board of the global Climate Action Network (CAN) from 2002 – 2007. He is also a member of the Greenhouse People’s Environmental Centre - a project initiated by ELA Jhb. He was named Energy Personality of the Year in 2002 by the Sustainable Energy Society of South Africa (SESSA).