SUNLAB News
Federal Minister of Science Kirsty Duncan Announces NSERC SPG Awards at ARC
CPV-13 Early Bird Registration Now Open
The online registration is now open for the 13th International Conference on Concentrator Photovoltaic Systems (CPV-13), held between May 1-3, 2017, at the University of Ottawa, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The discounted Early Bird rates are available until March 17.
SUNLAB Graduates 3 Students in 2016
The SUNLAB sends congratulations to three students for the successful thesis defense and completion of their postgraduate studies in 2016:Ahmed Gabr, Ph.D., Elec. Eng., "Modelling and Characterization of Down-Conversion and Down-Shifting Processes for Photovoltaic Applications", June 2016Robert Chu Tu Li, M.A.Sc., Elec. Eng., "Development of Field Scenario Ray Tracing Software for the Analysis of Bifacial Photovoltaic Solar Panel Performance", October 2016Patrick McVey, M.A.Sc., Elec. Eng., "A New Characterization Technique to Analyze Concentrator Photovoltaic Optical and System Performance", December 2016
Science Co-Op Student of the Year: Sanmeet Chahal
We wish to extend congratulations to Sanmeet Chahal, recipient of the Faculty of Science Co-Op Student of the Year Award 2016, for his research at the SUNLAB over the summer. His project focused on the development of a fully-parameterized three-dimensional distributed circuit model for electrical simulation of multi-junction photovoltaic devices, including solar cells and photonic power converters, composed of N junctions connected electrical in-series in a vertical stack. These results have been accepted for oral presentation at Photonics West on 30 January 2016 ("20-junction photonic power converter performance under non-uniform illumination calculated by 3D distributed circuit model", paper 10099-7) and further developments will be submitted to another leading international photovoltaic conference later this year.
SUNLAB student's research featured in the Ottawa Citizen
Congratulations to Ross Cheriton,a Ph.D. student in physics at the SUNLAB who has been working alongside Ottawa-Gatineau company iBionics on powering chips in new wire-free retinal implants for retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. This research was recently featured in the Ottawa Citizen as well as a fundraising campaign for the University of Ottawa.
SUNLAB student awarded IEEE PES scholarship for a second year
Congratulations to Lianne de la Salle, undergraduate student at the SUNLAB, for being selected as a 2016-2017 IEEE PES Scholarship Plus Initiative recipient for a second year! The Initiative provides multi-year scholarships and career experience opportunities to electrical engineering undergraduate students specializing in power and energy engineering.Lianne de la Salle has contributed to various SUNLAB research projects such as the study of CPV module acceptance angle, tracker precision and solar resource. As well, she has assisted in the maintenance of SUNLAB’s outdoor solar test facility, ensuring tracker functionality and proper data collection.
The SUNLAB to take part in Green Energy Doors Open
Come visit the SUNLAB as part of Green Energy Doors Open, Sunday, September 11, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. More details can be found here.
Dr. Joan Haysom wins the WiRE Woman of Distinction Award for Solar 2016
Congratulations to SUNLAB member Dr. Joan Haysom on winning the WiRE Woman of Distinction Award for Solar 2016. This award recognizes women who go "above and beyond business-as-usual, consistently demonstrate outstanding leadership, and have contributed significantly to the expansion and improvement of the power sector". Dr. Haysom received her award at CanSIA's Game Changer Awards Gala, held last May 16 in Niagara Falls, Ontario.Dr. Haysom is a senior renewable energy specialist at Leidos Canada and an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa. She has been a member of the SUNLAB since 2010.
Congratulations to Dr. Joan Haysom for winning the WiRE Woman of Distinction Award for Solar!!!!!! @CanadianSIA
— WiRE (@WiREOntario) 17 mai 2016
SUNLAB students awarded scholarships
Congratulations to SUNLAB students Louis Béchard, Patrick McVey White, Meghan Beattie and Ross Cheriton on receiving scholarships for 2016-2017.Both Louis Béchard and Patrick McVey White, master's students at the SUNLAB, have been awarded a prestigious Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The program's objective is to help 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. The support will allow Louis to fully concentrate on his master's studies and Patrick to start his doctoral studies.Meghan Beattie, a master's student, and Ross Cheriton, a doctoral student, have been awarded Ontario Graduate Scholarships (OGS). OGS awards are merit-based scholarships available to students in all disciplines of academic study. The OGS program is jointly funded by the Province of Ontario and Ontario universities.
Prof. Karin Hinzer wins University of Ottawa Young Researcher of the Year Award
Congratulations to Prof. Karin Hinzer, SUNLAB director, on being awarded the University of Ottawa Young Researcher of the Year Award (engineering, science and medicine category) for 2016. Prof. Hinzer received her award in a ceremony held on April 7, 2016, at the Alex Trebek Alumni Hall.
CPV-13 to take place at the University of Ottawa in 2017
Professor Karin Hinzer will be chairing CPV-13, the 13th International Conference on Concentrated Photovoltaic Systems, which will take place at the University of Ottawa, May 1 to 3, 2017. The premier technical conference in the areas of high- and low-concentration PV components, modules, and tracker-based PV systems, CPV-13 will bring together students, academics, technologists, and financiers to engage in discussions of state-of-the-art CPV components, trackers, and installations.For more information, click here.
The SUNLAB part of the City of Ottawa Doors Open event
The SUNLAB is happy to take part in the City of Ottawa's Doors Open event. Come visit us between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., on Saturday, June 4, 2016 at the University of Ottawa's Advanced Research Complex, 25 Templeton Street. You will be able to tour the SUNLAB as well as other world-class photonics laboratories.For more information, click here.
CPV-12 abstract submitted!
We are happy to announce that we have submitted abstract for the 12th International Conference on Concentrator Photovoltaics (CPV-12).The abstract is entitled "Effects of Lens Temperature on Chromatic Aberration and CPV System Performance", and describes work done in cooperation with CEA-LITEN, INES, Le Bourget du Lac, France.
SUNLAB student awarded IEEE PES scholarship
Congratulations to Lianne de la Salle, undergraduate student at SUNLAB, for being selected as a 2015/16 IEEE PES Scholarship Plus Initiative recipient! The Initiative provides multi-year scholarships and career experience opportunities to electrical engineering undergraduate students specializing in power and energy engineering.Lianne de la Salle has contributed to various SUNLAB research projects such as the study of CPV module acceptance angle, tracker precision and solar resource. As well, she has assisted in the maintenance of SUNLAB's outdoor solar test facility, ensuring tracker functionality and proper data collection.
Honourable mention at Innovation 360
We are very happy to announce that Ross Cheriton, a PhD student at SUNLAB, has won an honourable mention for his demonstration of InGaN/GaN solar cells at the TEXPO competition in Hull, Québec on September 29th, 2015. The honourable mention was for the Huawei Microsystems Design Award for most novel and industrially relevant results in the field of materials research and microsystems.
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