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

1st Prize in the uOttawa SPIE Elevator Pitch Competition

Congratulations to Ross Cheriton, PhD student at SUNLAB on winning 1st Prize in the uOttawa SPIE Elevator Pitch Competition held on June 4th at the University of Ottawa.Ross was presenting 5 minute pitch entitled "Sunstack: An independent energy solution".

Visit by Korea Advanced Nano-fab Center

The SUNLAB was pleased to welcome a visit by Dr. Won-Kyu Park, Vice-President & Head of Device Technology Division of the Korea Advanced Nano-fab Center (KANC), located in the Gwang-Gyo Techno Valley of Gyeonggi-Do province outside Seoul, Korea.

Nomination for Best Student Paper, PVSC40

Congratulations to Matt Wilkins, PhD student at SUNLAB on his nomination for the Best Student Paper Award for his submission to the 40th IEEE Photovoltaics Specialists Conference (PVSC) to be held in Denver, Colorado, in June 2014. His presentation is entitled "Effects of Luminescent Coupling in Single- and 4-Junction Dilute Nitride Solar Cells". His model will be applied to single and 4-junction dilute nitride solar cells and the influence of the physical phenomena will be analyzed. The recipient of the award will be announced at the conference.

PEO Ottawa Chapter Student Paper Night

Suppported by the SUNLAB, 4th year University of Ottawa Electrical Engineering students, Normand Amyotte, Michael Kelly, Robert Li, Patrick McVey, received The Best Technical Content Award at the annual PEO Ottawa Chapter Student Paper Night, help at Salon San Marco on April 8, 2014. The title of their project was Multi Junction Solar Cell Characterisation Instrument.

CMC Microsystems Award for growth funding

SUNLAB has received three awards of funding from CMC Microsystems to grow prototype dilute nitride solar cells which will be used to advance the design of 3- and 4-junction solar cells. Those growths were awarded in October 2013, February and March 2014 and are now in progress.

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.