Today marks five years since the passing of Emeritus Professor Chem Nayar (1946-2021), founder of Regen Power and one of the pioneers of Western Australia’s clean energy industry.
Professor Nayar passed away in Perth on 16 September 2021, aged 75. He arrived in Western Australia in 1982 with his wife, two young children, a scholarship and a conviction that renewable energy could change lives. Two years later he had completed Australia’s first PhD on electrical power generation using wind energy, and over the four decades that followed he helped build Curtin University into a world-recognised centre for clean energy research, supervised 40 PhD and master’s students, and led 42 sustainable energy projects across Australia and the Asia-Pacific – many the first of their kind in their country.
In 2003, convinced that clean energy belonged on ordinary rooftops and not only in research papers, he founded Regen Power. At the time of his passing the company had completed more than 30,000 installations. Today that figure exceeds 45,000.
To mark the anniversary, The Sunday Times has published a feature on Professor Nayar’s life and legacy, which is available to read in full below.
“Five years on, we still ask ourselves what Professor Nayar would do,” said Regen Power CEO Dr Nikhil Jayaraj.
“He taught us that engineering is ultimately about people – a family in a remote community switching on a light for the first time, or a Perth household taking control of its power bills. Every system we install carries a little of his vision.”
Professor Nayar’s memory is honoured each year through the Regen Power Prize, awarded at Curtin University’s School of Electrical Engineering, Computing and Mathematical Sciences to recognise outstanding students and continue his lifelong mission of nurturing the next generation of clean energy engineers. The research partnership he began also continues, with Regen Power and Curtin University collaborating on nationally funded research into battery adoption and consumer-centred energy systems.
As government rebates drive record uptake of home batteries across Western Australia, the storage-backed solar systems Professor Nayar researched long before they were fashionable are fast becoming the standard on the State’s rooftops. The energy transition he spent his life preparing for is now arriving in earnest.
He is remembered with love and gratitude by his family, colleagues, students and the entire Regen Power team – and by every Western Australian home his life’s work helps to power.
Read the full Sunday Times feature: [Download PDF – Five years on, the light still shines]
About Regen Power
Founded in Perth in 2003 by Emeritus Professor Chem Nayar, Regen Power is Western Australia’s top-ranked residential solar retailer, with more than 45,000 solar, battery and EV charging installations across the State. The company partners with global technology leaders including Tesla and maintains an ongoing research partnership with Curtin University. Power That Doesn’t Cost The Earth.
