SUNLAB News
IEEE Ottawa Photonics North 2013 award
Viktar Tatsiankou, master student in the SUNLAB, was the recipient of a 2nd place Student Best Paper award at the 2013 IEEE Ottawa Photonics North by for his proceedings entitled "Reconstruction of solar spectral resource using limited spectral sampling for concentrating photovoltaic systems".The paper presented a method of limited spectral sampling with a simulated multi-channel filter radiometer (MCFR) to reconstruct incident solar spectra.
Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP)
Congratulations to Frédéric Bouchard for his Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) Award for the fall session 2012!UROP provides undergraduate students with unique and exciting opportunities to explore cutting-edge research at the University of Ottawa while they define their professional goals.
First Canadian Photovoltaics Graduate School
Funded by the NSERC Photovoltaic Innovation Network and Mitacs, the First Canadian Photovoltaics Graduate School aims to attract graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from across Canada to take part in an intensive three-day training event at the University of Ottawa from May 16 to 18, 2012 in Ottawa, Ontario. See the details on the First Canadian Photovoltaics Graduate School webpage.
NREL reliability workshop poster prize
Richard Beal, SUNLAB's PhD Fellow, was awarded a prize for his poster at the 2012 Photovoltaic Module Reliability Workshop (PVMRW) that was held at NREL in Golden, Colorado, February 28-March 1, 2012.The poster entitled High Intensity Light-Cycling and Early-Life Failure Detection for HCPV Cell Assemblies Using the XT-30 Solar Simulator presented information on SUNLAB's indoor reliability testing on highly-concentrating photovoltaic systems with the in-house high concentration continuous-wave solar simulator.The proceedings can now be found here .
$1.7M for University of Ottawa research projects to make a better, brighter Canada of tomorrow
Dr. Karin Hinzer was one of the five University of Ottawa scientists who have been awarded a total of $1.7 million from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) in support of high impact research projects that will generate benefits to the country's economic, social and environmental landscape over the next ten years.The SUNLAB's project called 4CPV will study materials and processes for quad-junction concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) solar cells with conversion efficiencies in the 45%-50% range, grown by chemical beam epitaxy. This project is in collaboration with Cyrium Technologies from the private sector and the University of Sherbrooke. Read more from the University of Ottawa news. Pour en savoir plus, suivez le lien sur le site de l'Université d'Ottawa.
APECS - Advancing Photovoltaics for Economical Concentrator Systems project
The APECS project goal is to establish high-efficiency concentration photovoltaic (CPV) systems as an economically viable technology for grid-connected solar power generation in Ontario, Canada, and globally. This is a $10M Ontario Research Foundation – Research Excellence funded program with three partners: Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, the University of Ottawa and Morgan Solar Inc.
The Inaugural Canadian Energy Innovation Award
The University of Ottawa’s SUNLab, which is the only university lab in Canada to dedicate its research to high-efficiency solar cell designs, received jointly with Morgan Solar Inc., for their innovative concentrating solar panel Sun Simba, the Inaugural Canadian Energy Innovation Award. The award was presented by Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE), Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, and the Association of Power Producers of Ontario (APPrO). See the annoncement
Inauguration of SUNRISE
The SUNRISE (Semiconductors Using Nanostructures for Record increased in Solar-cell Efficiency) Solar Project installation was unveiled today. This represents the culmination of three years of research and development for its consortium members: the University of Ottawa, the National research Council of Canada, Cyrium Technologies, Opel International and Université de Sherbrooke. This project was funded by NSERC, the National Research Council and Business Development Bank of Canada. The inauguration ceremony took place at the National Research Council of Canada. The presence of honoured members of Canada’s parliament and of the solar technology research and business institutions is a recognition of the importance of the involvement of Canada in the field of renewable technology. The event was covered by several media likeWorld of Photovoltaics,The Ottawa Citizen,Market Watch,Ottawa Business Journal,SmartGrid, Sys-con media, and The University of Ottawa News Releases and Announcements.
Professional Engineers of Ontario student prize
Fourth-year undergraduate students Ante Bulat, Ryan King, Mark Njau, and Viktar Tatsiankou were awarded the Best Innovation and Commercial Application prize at the Professional Engineers of Ontario Ottawa Chapter 2010 Student Papers Night at St. Marco Hall on the 7th of April, adjudicated by a panel of professional engineers. Their paper, entitled Lunar Rover Power Subsystem, developed concept designs and two working demonstrators of photovoltaic power subsystems designed for use on rover vehicles intended for the moon. Their fourth-year project was a collaboration between Neptec Design Group Ltd. and the SUNLab, under subcontract from the Canadian Space Agency.
Advancing Photovoltaics for Economical Concentrator Systems (APECS)
A joint project between the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Research in Photonics and Morgan Solar Inc. starts in 2010, targeting cost reduction for both solar cells and concentrator systems. Funded by the Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence from Ontario’s Ministry of Research and Innovation, the project entitled APECS: Advancing Photovoltaics for Economical Concentrator Systems, will deploy a test site on the University of Ottawa campus and a larger demonstrator system off-site, both employing state-of-the-art light-guiding concentrator optics from Morgan Solar and commercial high-efficiency III-V triple-junction solar cells. The project will additionally research the design and growth of III-V multi-junction solar cells on low cost substrate materials. This project is headed by Professors Trevor Hall, Karin Hinzer, Henry Schriemer, and Hanan Anis. Although the project consortium was modified since this original announcement, the main project goals and objectives remain unchanged.
Photovoltaic Innovation Network announced
Minister of Industry, Tony Clement, today announced the funding of the NSERC Photovoltaic Innovation Network, a Canada-wide initiative comprised of 13 universities with >25 primary researchers, spear-headed by Rafael Kleiman of McMaster University. The University of Ottawa's SUNLab is focused on two primary collaborative projects within the Network, with Karin Hinzer as a co-leader of inorganic devices, one of the four main themes of the network. This network has been featured in a recent University of Ottawa press release
Spectrolab high-concentration solar simulator production unit received
The SUNLab has received from Spectrolab Inc. the updated production unit of its newest type of solar simulator, XT-30, the very first production unit produced worldwide. Designed specifically for high-efficiency multi-junction III-V solar cells for concentrated photovoltaic applications, it is a unique design which provides very-high concentrations, up to >1000 suns of continuous illumination, allowing detailed investigations into cells and chip-on-carrier devices under conditions more closely simulating real-world use than for the more common flash solar simulators.
Spectrolab high-concentration solar simulator prototype received
The SUNLab has received from Spectrolab Inc. a prototype unit for a new type of solar simulator design providing very-high concentrations, up to >1000 suns. Designed specifically for high-efficiency multi-junction III-V solar cells for concentrated photovoltaic applications, the very first production unit worldwide is expected to arrive at our lab in the coming months.
SDTC project funded
Professors Trevor Hall and Karin Hinzer, in partnership with Cyrium Technologies and the Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre (CPFC), have been awarded a multi-million dollar grant from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), officially announced on 28 July 2008. The objectives of this project are to boost the effectiveness of multijunction solar cells and produce electricity at a lower cost than with traditional silicon panels. The project includes the deployment of two demonstration concentrator systems using these state-of-the-art solar cells at the downtown University of Ottawa campus.
SUNRISE project funded
Drs. Trevor Hall, Karin Hinzer, and Henry Schriemer from the CRPuO have won a $3-million research fund. The National Research Council of Canada (NRC), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) announced the winners of a special $15-million nanotechnology research funding competition. Among the five winning projects is "SUNRISE: Semiconductors Using Nanostructures for Record Increases in Solar-Cell Efficiency", in which Drs. Hall, Hinzer, and Schriemer from the CRPuO play essential roles with their university and industrial collaborators.