Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Professor Mughal’s passion for renewable energy led him to build Pakistan’s first commercial solar panel manufacturing plant in 2005. This subsidiary, Akhter Solar, doubled its production capacity in 2008 while branching into production of specialist panels for domestic users. He is Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Silicon CPV Plc, a renewable energy technology company located in the United Kingdom. He is responsible for the product development and the strategic direction for Silicon CPV Plc. Work has started on a new factory to produce concentrating photovoltaic cells, close to Akhter Solar factory in Pakistan, and is due to complete in 2011. In 2009 Silicon CPV won a prestigious award from British Renewable Energy for its low cost 120x PV Concentrator System.
A subject close to Professor Mughal’s heart is education and he retains close links with Liverpool University where he first studied electronics after arriving from Pakistan in 1972. In 2002 he was awarded a Professorship by the University, where he speaks annually to encourage and envision final year undergraduate and postgraduate research students.
He holds a Physics BSc from Punjab University, Pakistan, an Applied Electronics BEng with honours, from Liverpool University, United Kingdom. His PhD research at Liverpool University was in the area of Silicon based semiconductor devices and performance of silicon dioxide as key processing step in manufacturing of large scale integrated circuits.
From an adventurous start in the UK, Prof. Mughal has enjoyed success as an entrepreneur and long standing employer in the UK and overseas subsidiaries in Pakistan, Spain and Italy. He continues to head up the Akhter Group of companies where he is responsible for overall innovation and direction. He also serves as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of Ultima Networks plc.
