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Raising awareness through BIPV demonstration ProjectsOPA Feed-in-Tariff ProgramPreston, Valliant labs win CREATE awards120MW PV capacity site to be based in Ontario by SilfabMacquarie Power & Infrastructure Income Fund to Acquire 20 Megawatt Solar Project in Ontario From SunPower Three solar photovoltaic projects totalling 36MW in Ontario, by EDF Energies Nouvelles.ARISE Technologies Announces Canadian Joint Venture with Sky Solar (Canada) Ltd. Canadian Solar released Q1 updatesSolar Skylight, a start-up venture, receives Solar Recearch Cottage from VELUXGaAs photovoltaics and optoelectronics using releasable multilayer epitaxial assembliesConcentration-Dependent Photoinduced Photoluminescence Enhancement in Colloidal PbS Quantum Dot SolutionTowards real energy economics: Energy policy driven by life-cycle carbon emissionPotential of building-scale alternative energy to alleviate risk from the future price of energyInfrared lock-in carrierography (photocarrier radiometric imaging) of Si solar cellsShine OntarioSOLutions Magazine
Building Integrated Photovoltaic's is a key method to conserve space
when trying to benefit from solar energy. It also stand out to the
general public which helps raise awareness. A collaboration between
Photovoltaic Energy Applied Research Lab at the British Columbia
Institute of Technology (BCIT) and Technology Centre, CETC- Varennes did
just that by supporting a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
(CMHC) to build:
A BIPV ventilation system on William Farrell
building which belongs to Telus Corporation. This was done as part of
the refurbishment of the façade. This 2.2 kilowatts system enhanced the
thermal performance of the building envelope by controlling ventilation
of air space behind the facade.
A 2 .8 kilowatt PV array
integrated into the the glass façade of the Discovery Park Inc.-
Technology
Place building located on the Burnaby Campus of BCIT. The BIPV curtain
wall is composed of a combination of semi-transparent and opaque
amorphous silicon modules, generating electricity while simultaneousely
providing interior day-lighting.
[Source]: J.Ayoub, "Promoting
Grid-Tied Solar Electricity on Buildings in Canada", August 2003.
Ontario's feed-in tariff or FIT Program is North America's first
comprehensive guaranteed pricing structure for renewable electricity
production. It offers stable prices under long-term contracts for energy
generated from renewable sources, including:
The
FIT Program was enabled by the Green
Energy and Green Economy Act, 2009 which was passed into law
on May 14, 2009. The Ontario Power Authority is responsible for
implementing the program. By encouraging the development of
renewable energy in Ontario, the
FIT Program will: - help Ontario phase out coal-fired
electricity generation by 2014 -
the largest climate change initiative in Canada
- boost economic
activity and the development of renewable energy
technologies
- create new green industries and jobs.
Feed-in
tariff for solar PV has already stimulated tremendous incentive to
develop new technologies to serve the local market with potential to
bootstrap a Canadian solar industry to serve the global solar energy
market.Link: Program Overview.
John Preston and John Valliant have been given grants each worth
$1.65-million over a six-year-term to lead programs that will advance
the skills of graduate students in two highly specialized and
fast-growing fields. An announcement on the Collaborative
Research and Training
Experience (CREATE), a program of the Natural Sciences & Engineering
Research Council (NSERC), was made this morning in the West Room of the
University Club by David Sweet, MP for
Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale. "We are
delighted by this," said Mo Elbestawi, vice-president,
Research & International Affairs. "McMaster was given two awards out
of a total of 20 across the country, once again showing the quality of
research expertise and academic programming that engages students. It
also means that we are leading the way in two emerging fields -
photovoltaics and molecular imaging probes." The NSERC
CREATE Molecular Imaging Probes (c-MIP) program will
give graduate students and post-doctoral fellows at McMaster University
and the Cross Cancer Institute at the University of Alberta the
opportunity to enhance their technical skills, perspective, and ability
to work in multi-disciplinary research teams in the fast-growing area of
medical imaging, specifically developing the next generation of imaging
probes from medical isotopes. Molecular imaging probes are used by
physicians to detect diseases like cancer and infection earlier than is
currently possible and assist them in selecting the best course of
treatment and monitoring response. Students will gain experience and
learn essential collaboration skills within a team and across
institutions and sectors; critical traits to grow an industry that is
important to Canada's economy and the health of its people. c-MIP
is led by John Valliant, associate professor at McMaster,
in collaboration with the Cross Cancer Institute and a host of
internationally recognized researchers in the departments of Chemistry
and Chemical Biology and Biochemistry. Students will have the
opportunity to use the world-class isotope and chemical biology
production facilities, research and translation infrastructure at both
centres as they develop new agents. What's more, they will have
the opportunity to expand their knowledge and collaboration networks by
working on co-op terms at the Centre for Probe Development and
Commercialization and the Edmonton Radiopharmaceutical Centre, and at
leading international research centres, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Centre in New York and ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology). The NSERC CREATE Program in Photovoltaics
will train Canada's
next generation of engineers and scientists in the most advanced
concepts for the conversion of sunlight to electricity. Led
by engineering professor John Preston and working with
renowned researchers at McMaster, University of Toronto and the
University of Waterloo, students will have access to some of the world's
best facilities for preparing, characterizing and testing materials and
devices for solar applications. Students will be drawn from the
departments of Engineering Physics, Physics, Chemical Engineering,
Chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering at McMaster, and the
departments of Electrical Engineering and Materials Science at Waterloo
and Toronto. Also participating in the program will be students from the
Dofasco Centre for Engineering and Public Policy and the Xerox Centre
for Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The
Program will additionally provide the Canadian Photovoltaic
manufacturing sector with the highly qualified personnel it needs to be
internationally competitive. The industry leaders in that rapidly
growing sector will provide input and leadership to the program through a
wide range of mentorship, sponsorship and networking interactions.
Programs provided by the Ontario Centres of Excellence and developed
within the school will give students an opportunity to acquire a
comprehensive set of professional skills consistent with their career
aspirations.
Source: McMaster
Daily News
The company said the plant will manufacture high-efficiency PV
modules with monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon cells with a
power of up to 300 Wp, and the targeted market is Ontario as well as the US.
‘With this new venture we aim at effectively meeting the growing
Canadian and, more generally, North American demand for renewable energy
products,’ commented Franco Traverso, CEO of Silfab.
‘The extensive experience in photovoltaic technologies gained by our
founders and business partners over the past three decades enables us to
undertake such an important project with confidence and optimism.’
Silfab said the installation of the
first production line is scheduled to conclude before the end of the
third quarter and manufacturing will start between the end of 2010 and
early 2011.
related link: http://www.silfab.eu/en/releases.php/1279
This $130 million solar PV project will be one of the largest solar power facilities in Canada, producing around 37,600MWh of electricity annually. The solar PV facility will be built in Amherstburg, Ontario and titled Amherstburg Solar Park. SunPower will design, build, and operate on behalf of MPT on a 20 year contract.
This provides MPT with low-risk, stable power infrastructure, while offering important environmental and local economic benefits, and supporting Province of Ontario's green energy mandate. Several international lenders will be the main source of funding for this $130 million project. Approoximatly $33 million of equity will be supplied by MPT once commercial operations begin in June 2011.
SunPower will complete the Amherstburg Solar Park under a fixed-price
engineering, procurement and construction contract. SunPower will also
provide operations and maintenance services for the facility under a
20-year contract. Electricity generated by the facility will be sold
under the Province of Ontario's Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program
to the Ontario Power Authority at a guaranteed price of $420 per MWh for
the next 20 years. For the first two years of commercial operations,
SunPower will financially support the performance of the facility at the
expected production.
The Amherstburg Solar Park will also use the proprietary single-axis
SunPower® Tracker T20 system, which is engineered to follow the sun
during the day, increasing daily energy production by up to 30 percent
more than fixed-tilt installations thereby improving the economics of
solar power and reducing land-use requirements.
The electricity generated by the project each year will reduce
emissions of carbon dioxide by approximately 27,0031 tonnes, which is
the equivalent of the greenhouse gas emissions from more than 5,000
passenger vehicles each year. Construction is scheduled to start immediately.
SUNPOWER - Press Release
EDF Energies plans to use Suntech and First Solar modules at there new solar farms in Ontario. Construction has started for the three porjects and all three are expected to be grid connected by end of this year.
Elmsley Solar Projects, located near Lombardy in the Township of Rideau
Lakes, will use Suntech c-Si modules and produce 12MW each. Third project located near the town of St. Isidore in the Municipality of the
Nation will use CdTe thin film modules from First Solar.
Jon Kieran, Director of
Solar Development for EDF EN Canada mentioned that “These projects follow on the success of the Arnprior Solar Project in
Ottawa, which went into service in 2009, and when all five RESOP sites are
completed we will have contributed about 60 MW(dc) of solar energy to
the distribution grid.”
All three sites are being developed under the Government of Ontario’s
Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program (RESOP).
Source: PV-Tech News
ARISE announced that it has established a joint venture with Sky
Solar (Canada) Ltd. to provide engineering, procurement and contracting
services for solar projects under the Ontario FIT program.
Under this agreement Sky Solar will provide operation funding to the JV. EPC staff from ARISE's systems division will become employees of the JV and join with the Sky Solar engineers to deliver EPC services to customers in Ontario. Demand for solar power generation projects has risen steadily since the government launched the progressive Feed-In Tariff program.
"Over the past several months we've been honoured to work closely with SKY SOLAR’s international leadership team to forge this agreement. We look forward to continuing to work together to deliver EPC services to meet our clients’ needs. " stated Vern Heinrichs, ARISE President and CEO. (pictured above)
"We see this partnership as a tremendous opportunity for SKY SOLAR to succeed in the burgeoning Ontario solar market and offer our considerable expertise, particularly in the area of project development, EPC and project financing. ARISE’s reputation for quality, PV engineering experience and an expanding service network will allow us to effectively respond to and serve our client base,” stated Mr. Peter Liu, President of Sky Solar Canada.
Arise and Sky Solar will continue to serve their own customers in the
Canadian marketplace but will also work as a team with all customers to
ensure that project needs are met.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Source: Arise Technologies - Media Release
Canadian Solar has released an update on its first-quarter performance
for 2010.
The company shipped an estimated 186.4 MW of products
during Q1 and received 176 MW of contract offers during the quarter from
clients within the Ontario region.
Dr Shawn Qu, chairman and
chief executive officer of Canadian Solar, commented: "We reached
record-high shipment levels in Q1, which we believe demonstrates the
success of our diversified sales channels and our strong brand name
recognition."
He added that the firm is set to expand internal
cell capacity from 420 MW to 700 MW during the course of Q2, while
module production capacity rose from 820 MW to 1.3 GW in Q1.
Canadian
Solar was founded in Ontario, Canada in 2001 and specialises in solar
module manufacture. It provides a range of ingots, wafers, solar cells,
solar modules, solar power systems and specialised solar products.
Source: Canadian Solar - News Release
Solar PV Management Magazine
Solar Skylight is a start-up venture in McMaster’s Xerox Centre for Engineering Entrepreneurship and Innovation, being led by Dr. Adrian Kitai, professor of engineering physics at McMaster. Three Master’s of Engineering Entrepreneurship and Innovation students –
Salman Bawa, Raaid Batarfi and Mazin Batarfi – are pursuing the
development of the technology and developing a business plan for
commercialization.
Solar Skylight will use the rescearch cottage to test their unique translucent solar skylight and glass curtain wall technology currently being developed. It will also be available to other researchers at the University and in the
community with appropriate projects.
Today (June, 2, 2010) 18-foot long, 13-foot wide and 13-foot high research cottage was moved to McMaster Innovation Park from Oakville, Ontario. The cottage was donated to the engineering researchers at McMaster University by VELUX Canada of Oakville. VELUX is a leading global manufacturer of Skylights, Sun Tunnel Skylights, and Solar thermal products.
The cost of transporting was shared by Horizion Utilities, the city of Hamilton, VELUX Canada, McMaster University, McMaster Innovation Park, and the Xerox Centre for Engineering
Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Recent publication in "Nature" describes a new inexpensive printing type method of growing GaAs and integrating on other substrates such as silicon or an amorphous material.
ABSTRACT
Compound semiconductors like gallium arsenide (GaAs) provide advantages
over silicon for many applications, owing to their direct bandgaps and
high electron mobilities. Examples range from efficient photovoltaic
devices to radio-frequency electronicsand most forms of
optoelectronics. However, growing large, high quality wafers
of these materials, and intimately integrating them on silicon or
amorphous substrates (such as glass or plastic) is expensive, which
restricts their use. Here we describe materials and fabrication concepts
that address many of these challenges, through the use of films of GaAs
or AlGaAs grown in thick, multilayer epitaxial assemblies, then
separated from each other and distributed on foreign substrates by
printing. This method yields large quantities of high quality
semiconductor material capable of device integration in large area
formats, in a manner that also allows the wafer to be reused for
additional growths. We demonstrate some capabilities of this approach
with three different applications: GaAs-based metal semiconductor field
effect transistors and logic gates on plates of glass, near-infrared
imaging devices on wafers of silicon, and photovoltaic modules on sheets
of plastic. These results illustrate the implementation of compound
semiconductors such as GaAs in applications whose cost structures,
formats, area coverages or modes of use are incompatible with
conventional growth or integration strategies.
Follow Document Link to view full publication.
SOURCE:
Yoon, Jongseung. "GaAs Photovoltaics and
Optoelectronics using Releasable Multilayer Epitaxial Assemblies." Nature
465.7296 (2010): 329.
DOCUMENT URL:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v465/n7296/full/nature09054.html
ABSTRACT
The concentration-dependent photoinduced photoluminescence (PL)
enhancement of PbS quantum dots (QDs) is observed for the first time in
the PbS colloidal solution. The enhancement in PL efficiency is
attributed to the photooxidation of PbS QD surface based on the optical,
transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron
spectroscopy (XPS) measurements. The decrease in PbS QD concentration
leads to the increase in the amplitude of PL enhancement and to the
decrease in the time required to reach the maximum PL enhancement. For
the lowest investigated QD concentration of 58.7 nmol/L, PL efficiency
can be increased by as much as 60 times. The critical concentration for
realizing the considerable PL enhancement is found to be similar to 200
nmol/L. Further investigation shows that the concentration-dependent PL
enhancement is related to spontaneous ligand desorption and therefore
more efficient photooxidation in low-concentration samples. Furthermore,
it was found that the enhanced PL can remain during storage. It
suggests that the postsynthesis treatment of UV illumination can serve
as an alternative, while simple and highly efficient way in improving
the PL efficiency of PbS QDs when the coverage of surface ligands is
appropriately controlled.
SOURCE
Zhang, Teng, et al. "Concentration-Dependent Photoinduced
Photoluminescence Enhancement in Colloidal PbS Quantum Dot Solution." The
Journal of Physical Chemistry C 114.22 (2010): 10153-9. Web.
DOCUMENT URL
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jp1025152
ABSTRACT
Alternative energy technologies
(AETs) have emerged as a solution to the challenge of simultaneously
meeting rising electricity demand while reducing carbon emissions.
However, as all AETs are responsible for some greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions during their construction, carbon emission "Ponzi Schemes" are
currently possible, wherein an AET industry expands so quickly that the
GHG emissions prevented by a given technology are negated to fabricate
the next wave of AET deployment. In an era where there are physical
constraints to the GHG emissions the climate can sustain in the short
term this may be unacceptable. To provide quantitative solutions to this
problem, this paper introduces the concept of dynamic carbon life-cycle
analyses, which generate carbon-neutral growth rates. These conceptual
tools become increasingly important as the world transitions to a
low-carbon economy by reducing fossil fuel combustion. In choosing this
method of evaluation it was possible to focus uniquely on reducing
carbon emissions to the recommended levels by outlining the most
carbon-effective approach to climate change mitigation. The results of
using dynamic life-cycle analysis provide policy makers with
standardized information that will drive the optimization of electricity
generation for effective climate change mitigation. (C) 2009 Elsevier
Ltd. All rights reserved.
SOURCE
Kenny, R., C. Law, and J. Pearce. "Towards Real Energy
Economics: Energy Policy Driven by Life-Cycle Carbon Emission." Energy
Policy 38.4 (2010): 1969-78. Web.
DOCUMENT URL
http://journals2.scholarsportal.info/details.xqy?uri=/03014215/v38i0004/1969_treeepdblce.xml
ABSTRACT
The energy used for building operations, the associated greenhouse gas
emissions, and the uncertainties in future price of natural gas and
electricity can be a cause of concern for building owners and policy
makers. In this work we explore the potential of building-scale
alternative energy technologies to reduce demand and emissions while
also shielding building owners from the risks associated with
fluctuations in the price of natural gas and grid electricity. We
analyze the monetary costs and benefits over the life cycle of five
technologies (photovoltaic and wind electricity generation, solar air
and water heating, and ground source heat pumps) over three audience or
building types (homeowners, small businesses, large commercial and
institutional entities). The analysis includes a Monte Carlo analysis to
measure risk that can be compared to other investment opportunities.
The results indicate that under government incentives and climate of
Toronto, Canada, the returns are relatively high for small degrees of
risks for a number of technologies. Ground source heat pumps prove to be
exceptionally good investments in terms of their energy savings,
emission, reductions, and economics, while the bigger buildings tend
also to be better economic choices for the use of these technologies.
(C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
SOURCE
Bristow, D., and C. Kennedy. "Potential of Building-Scale
Alternative Energy to Alleviate Risk from the Future Price of Energy." Energy
Policy 38.4 (2010): 1885-94. Web.
DOCUMENT URL
http://resolver.scholarsportal.info/resolve/03014215/v38i0004/1885_pobaetftfpoe
ABSTRACT
Modulated photocarrier radiometric (PCR) imaging (lock-in
carrierography) of multicrystalline (mc) Si solar cells is introduced
using a near-infrared (NIR) InGaAs camera and a spread superband gap
laser beam as an optoelectronic source at low modulation frequencies (<10 Hz) or point-by-point scanning PCR
imaging with a focused laser beam at high (kilohertz) frequencies. PCR
images are supplemented by quantitative PCR frequency scans and compared
to NIR optical reflectance, modulated electroluminescence (MEL) and
modulated photovoltage (MPV) images. Noncontact PCR imaging is
controlled by the photoexcited carrier diffusion wave and exhibits very
similar images to contacting MEL and MPV. Among these methods it
exhibits the highest contrast and sensitivity to mechanical and
crystalline defects in the substrate at lock-in image frequencies in the
range of the inverse recombination lifetime in the quasineutral region
(bulk).
SOURCE
Melnikov, A., et al. "Infrared Lock-in Carrierography
(Photocarrier Radiometric Imaging) of Si Solar Cells." Journal of
Applied Physics 107.11 (2010)Web.
DOCUMENT URL
Check out this solar video by Skypower and Canadian Solar!
related link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59RfedqzTZ4
Click on the link below to enjoy:
related link: http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/CSIB0112/in
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