New GREEN NSERC project for SUNLAB and SOLANTRO

SUNLAB has been granted new funding from National Science and Engineering Research Council Canada (NSERC) for a project entitled “GREEN - Growing a Reliably Efficient Electrical Nanogrid".The GREEN project is a collaboration led by Prof. Henry Schriemer, between SUNLAB at uOttawa and Solantro Semiconductor Corp. The project will study load sensing power conditioning of adaptively-managed renewable power systems incorporating both energy generation and storage.Solantro Semiconductor Corp. is a fabless design, develop, and marketing house based in Ottawa, California and Arizona, producing sophisticated chipsets for distributed renewable energy systems management, which recently announced $11-million in series-B funding from private sources.

SUNLAB has moved to Advanced Research Complex

This has been very busy summer for SUNLAB - we have packed our solar research labs at SITE 3001 and SITE 3003 as well as all offices and moved across King Edward Avenue to newly finished Advanced Research Complex. Even though officially our new lab is going to open in September, we are all settled and unpacked! We are also awaiting arrival of our new equipment as our new solar research lab is expanding! Make sure you visit our Lab Facilities site after September to learn about updates on our NEW SUNLAB SOLAR RESEARCH LAB!

PVSC-42 Best Student Paper Award for SUNLAB

We are pleased to announce that our PhD student Viktar Tatsiankou in Electrical Engineering, has been awarded the Best Student Paper Award at the 42nd Photovoltaic Specialists Conference in New Orleans, USA. Viktar's presentation titled "A Novel Instrument for Cost-Effective and Reliable Measurement of Solar Spectral Irradiance" was presented at the concentrator photovoltaic session of the conference.

SUNLAB student awarded Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship

Congratulations to Patrick White, Master's student at SUNLAB for being awarded the Alexander Graham Bell (AGB) Canada Graduate Scholarship - Master's (CGS-M) AND a University of Ottawa Excellence Scholarship! The Canada Graduate Scholarships-Master’s (CGS M) Program helps to develop research skills and assist in the training of highly qualified personnel by supporting students who demonstrate a high standard of achievement in undergraduate and early graduate studies. This support combined with the University of Ottawa Excellence Scholarship will allow Patrick to fully concentrate on his research studies at SUNLAB.

SUNLAB at 100% renewable energy OREC event

OREC (Ontario Renewable Energy Co-op) in partnership with 1125 @ Carleton and Ottawa city councillor David Chernushenko invite you for an evening of possibility where we will hear from Mr. Neale F. Lunderville, Interim General Manager of Burlington Electric Department and board member of the Preservation Trust of Vermont, Vermont Long Term Disaster Recovery Group and Champlain College together with Kenneth A. Nolan, Manager of Power Resources, and a member of the Board of Directors of Renewable Energy Vermont and Vermont Electric Power Producers Inc.

The presentation will be followed by a panel discussion with panel members Joan Haysom (SUNLAB, U. Ottawa), Roger Peters (OREC), and Don Grant (Ottawa EcoDistrict).

The Ottawa Renewable Energy Cooperative will also share its success to date and its goals to be a major contributor to Ottawa’s energy independence and ability to meet its energy needs with renewable sources.

For more information click here.

2nd place at the uOttawa Engineering and Computer Science Graduate Poster Competition

We are very pleased to announce that Viktar Tatsiankou, PhD student at SUNLAB, was awarded a 2nd place at the University of Ottawa graduate poster competition (Electrical Engineering Section) for his poster entitled: "A Novel Instrument for Characterization of Solar Spectral Irradiance".

SUNLAB representative is a finalist at Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) Symposium

Big congratulations to Lianne de la Salle, who represented SUNLAB at Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) Symposium organized by uOttawa and who was a finalist, top 20 out of 300+. She has presented a poster entitled "SMART Solar module angular response on a tracker" showing work on the angular response and tracking precision assessment for three different CPV system prototypes composed of an input lens, refractive secondary optics and triple-junction photovoltaic solar cell.

8th Edition of the Engineering and Computer Science Graduate Poster Competition

Today the 8th (!) edition of the Engineering and Computer Science Graduate Poster Competition is taking place. This annual event demonstrates the cutting-edge research that the Faculty’s graduate students are conducting and allows for networking with alumni, professors and industry professionals. It takes place today Tuesday, March 31, 2015 at Atrium, SITE Hall, University of Ottawa (800 King Edward Avenue)9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. – Poster presentations (a light lunch will be served)4 p.m. to 6 p.m. – Award ceremony and reception Our SUNLAB representatives are:Robert Li, M.A.Sc. Candidate"Design of A 35% High Concentrating Photovoltaic System That Operates in both Direct and Diffuse Illumination"Viktar Tatsiankou, Ph.D. Candidate - awarded a 2nd place in Electrical Engineering section!"A Novel Instrument for Characterization of Solar Spectral Irradiance"

Second abstract nominated for Best Student Paper Award at 42nd IEEE PVSC!

Congratulations to Viktar Tatsiankou, a PhD student at the SUNLAB, on his nomination as a finalist for the Best Student Paper Award at the 42nd IEEE Photovoltaics Specialists Conference (PVSC) for his upcoming oral presentation titled "A Novel Instrument for Cost-Effective and Reliable Measurement of Solar Spectral Irradiance”. The SSIM is a low-cost instrument designed to provide the photovoltaic community with an affordable and reliable tool for spectral measurements.

SUNLAB student visiting CEA-INES this summer

Patrick White, MSc student at SUNLAB, has been invited for an exchange this summer (April 20th - August 8th) at the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA-INES) , an industry research laboratory in France.He will be analysing the effects of concentrating optics on cell efficiency. Building on testing at SUNLAB in studying the effects of spectral distribution on cell performance allows the associated losses to be quantified for particular lens designs. The goal in developing the Methodologies for characterizing Electrical, Thermal, and Optical Devices (METHOD) technique with CAE-INES to quantify the losses due to the optics and proposal optimal cell positioning.

Nomination for Best Student Paper Award at 42nd IEEE PVSC!

Congratulations to Pratibha Sharma, a PhD candidate at the SUNLAB, on her nomination as a finalist for the Best Student Paper Award at the 42nd IEEE Photovoltaics Specialists Conference (PVSC) to be held in New Orleans, in June 2015. Her presentation is entitled "Optimization of a four junction solar cell CPV system using ray tracing and SPICE modeling". Her work combines electrical modeling with optical ray tracing to analyze the effects of nonuniform illumination and chromatic aberrations on quadruple junction solar cells. The recipient of the award will be announced at the conference.

SUNLAB is going to PVSC!

We are very happy to announce that all of the abstracts submitted by SUNLAB have been accepted for oral or poster presentation at the 42nd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference PVSC taking place in June 14-19, 2015, in New Orleans. PVSC is one of the largest solar energy conferences in the world, bringing together researchers, students, scientists, engineers, technology and business leaders from industry, academia from all over the world to discuss the recent advances in PV and future challenges we need to face as a community to widespread solar electricity to the benefit of all.The work that is going to be presented by SUNLAB members:

• "Optimization of a four junction solar cell CPV system using ray tracing and SPICE modeling" by Pratibha Sharma, Matthew Wilkins, Henry Schriemer and Karin Hinzer - oral presentation
• "Optimization of GaAs nanowire solar cell efficiency via optoelectronic modeling" by Anna H. Trojnar, Christopher E. Valdivia, Azizur Rahman, Ray R. LaPierre, Karin Hinzer and Jacob J. Krich - oral presentation
• "Refractive Concentrator Optics Architectures, Tracker Precision, and Cumulative Energy Harvest" by John P. D. Cook, Pratibha Sharma, Lianne de la Salle, Fred Carle, Patrick M. White, Viktar Tatsiankou, Joan E. Haysom, Elena Dragomirescu, Henry Schriemer and Karin Hinzer - oral presentation
• "A novel instrument for cost-effective and reliable measurement of solar spectral irradiance" by Viktar Tatsiankou, Karin Hinzer, Henry Schriemer, Joan Haysom, and Richard Beal- oral presentation
• "Identifying reoresentative spectra for which multi-junction solar cells should be optimized to maximize annual energy yield by Mark D. Yandt, Karin Hinzer, and Henry Schriemer - poster presentation

SUNLAB at CPV-11

We are very happy to announce that all our abstracts submitted to the 11th International Conference on Concentrator Photovoltaics (CPV-11) have been accepted! CPV-11 takes place this year in April 13-15th, 2015 in Aix-Bains, France. Here is a list of our abstracts:

• "Towards CPV systems using dilute nitride-containing 4-junction solar cells by Christopher E. Valdivia, Matthew M. Wilkins, Ross Cheriton, Pratibha Sharma, Anna H. Trojnar, Gitanjali Kolhatkar, Abderraouf Boucherif, Abdelatif Jaouad, Simon Fafard, Vincent Aimez, Richard Ares, and Karin Hinzer - poster presentation
• "Effects of nonuniform ilumination on tripple junction solar cells under concentration" by Patrick M. White, Pratibha Sharma, Pierre Besson, Mathieu Baudrit, Simon Fafard, Henry Schriemer, and Karin Hinzer - poster presentation
• "Multijunction solar cell analysis with the tunable automated subcell characterization unit" by Patrick M. White, Christopher R. Valdivia, Mark Yandt, Simon Fafard, Karin Hinzer, and Henry Schriemer - poster presentation
• "Next Generation Solar Spectral Irradiance Meter with Enhanced Reliability" by Viktar Tatsiankou, Karin Hinzer, Joan E. Haysom, Henry Schriemer, and Richard Beal - oral presentation

NREL PV reliability workshop

John Cook, a senior researcher at SUNLAB, attended the NREL PV reliability workshop (February 24-27) in Golden, CO, where he presented on behalf of Viktar Tatsiankou, PhD student at SUNLAB, the summary of the SSIM performance during one week of testing at NREL outdoor test facility. The poster can be found here.

Report on the Status of Concentrator Photovoltaics by Fraunhofer ISE and NREL

The two largest solar energy research centers worldwide, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, NREL (US), and Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE (Germany) have compiled a report titled "Current Status of Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) Technology" describing the status of both the current market and its future perspectives as well as the state-of-the-art for concentrator photovoltaic research and technology. This study is published on the websites of NREL and Fraunhofer ISE .

CMC Microsystem growth funding awards for SUNLAB!

SUNLAB has been granted funding from Canadian Microelectonics Corporation (CMC) to develop a four-junction solar cell using InGaAsN(Sb) dilute nitride material. This project builds on previous work with single-junction dilute nitride solar cells. The first stage of the project has been completed, yielding a series of wafer templates with germanium bottom sub-cells and epitaxially grown tunnel junctions, which will form the basis for growth of complete four-junction devices.

The Solar Spectral Irradiance Meters (SSIM) calibrated at NREL

Viktar Tatsiankou, PhD Student in Electrical Engineering, has successfully deployed the Solar Spectral Irradiance Meters (SSIM) at National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) during November 15-22 trip to Golden, Colorado. Viktar, working closely with NREL's senior scientist Keith Emery, was able to compare the performance of two next generation SSIMs from COFOVO Energy against the state-of-the-art spectroradiometers, the pyrheliometers and the absolute cavity radiometer. The SSIMs were able to match aforementioned instruments with a great accuracy, the example of which is demonstrated in the figure below, where the SSIM's direct normal irradiance is within 0.5% of the Kipp and Zonen's model CH1 pyrheliometer.  

Ottawa Entrepreneurship Scholarship for Viktar Tatsiankou

PhD Student in Electrical Engineering, Viktar Tatsiankou, received University of Ottawa Entrepreneurship Scholarship for demonstration of the Solar Spectral Irradiance Meter (SSIM) capabilities. SSIM, designed by Viktar, allows to accurately resolve the solar spectrum at a fraction of the cost of traditional spectroradiometric approaches.

L’énergie sur le campus

Le samedi 4 octobre , l'uOttawa prendra part à l’initiative Green Energy Doors Open initiative , un salon consacré aux projets d’énergie renouvelable, organisé annuellement par la Ontario Sustainable Energy Association dans plusieurs villes de la province.Activités :Stands interactifsExpériences pratiques et courses de voitures solairesVisites des laboratoires intérieurs du SUNLAB et du centre de recherche solaire extérieureVisites de la centrale thermiqueVenez découvrir les projets d’énergie renouvelable menés par des chercheurs et des opérateurs de l’uOttawa.More information can be found here

Energy on Campus: Green Energy Doors Open

On Saturday, October 4, 2014, uOttawa will take part in the Green Energy Doors Open initiative , which is a single-day, province-wide annual showcase of sustainable energy projects sponsored by the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA).ActivitiesInteractive boothsHands-on experiments and solar car racesTours of SunLab’s indoor labs and outdoor solar test siteTours of uOttawa’s power plantDrop in to learn about the exciting sustainable energy projects that uOttawa researchers and operators are conducting.More information can be found here