Abderraouf Boucherif has been an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Université de Sherbrooke since 2018. He is the 2020 winner of the Tremplin Prize in Natural science and Engineering. His research is focused on semiconductor nanomaterials for green energy. Leading a multidisciplinary team of more than 20 scientists and students, he is the principal investigator of large-scale research projects in partnership with industry to create new nanomaterial for solar energy applications. Among his major achievements is the demonstration of a process for semiconductor layer transfer and substrate recycling as well as defect free III-V virtual substrate on silicon. He has published more than 70 papers in international peer reviewed journals and received several awards for his outstanding applied research contributions. Here is a link to his detailed CV.

As photovoltaics (PV) becomes a major source of electricity production, new questions emerge about the environmental impact of manufacturing solar modules, the toxicity of the modules, the impact on land and ecosystems during and after system installation, and finally, modules recyclability at end-of-life. Concerns from the public and opposition groups can also create significant delays and costs in project deployments due to the lack of studies on the environmental benefit, toxicity, or end-of-life management of PV. Anticipatory sustainability assessment can evaluate the potential environmental impact of current and future technologies. Results are helpful to address misconceptions about solar impacts and guide greener PV module design, construction, and recycling. Examples of recent projects on transparent photovoltaics for building-integrated PV, tellurium scarcity, modules toxicity, and solar co-location with agriculture will be presented.

Annick Anctil is an associate professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Michigan State University, where she leads research on Sustainable Energy Systems. She holds a BE and MS in Materials Engineering and a PhD in Sustainability. The core of her research is evaluating the environmental impact of photovoltaics technologies. She participated in the NSF International Standard on Sustainability Leadership for Photovoltaics Module and the EPEAT Ultra-low carbon solar modules criteria. She is the assistant director of the DOE-MSU Industrial Assessment Center and received an NSF CAREER award in 2021 to work on the impact of the solar photovoltaics industry in the US. She was selected as a Michigan Clean Energy Leader in 2018 and is currently on the board of directors of the Michigan Institute for Energy Innovation (IEI) and Advancing Women in Energy (AWE).

Roll the dice on social interaction and join us on Monday, July 18, starting at 6:30 p.m., at Level One Game Pub, 14 Waller Street, for dinner, board games and socialization. Learn a new game or share your personal favourites with your fellow summer school attendees over dinner. We will meet in front of the STEM building (near the giant pillars) at 6:15 p.m. and walk there together if you would like a guided tour to the venue.

Cost for this event is not included with summer school registration:

- $9.04 (tax included) to stay and play board games.

- Cost for food and drinks to be added to each individual tab.

- Payment will be made directly to the Level One Game Pub.

Contact Christine Couture for any questions.

Photovoltaic modules are typically rated at Standard Test Conditions that include the AM1.5 reference spectrum. Deviations from AM1.5 can lead to annual gains or losses of up to roughly 3% for crystalline silicon and 10% for amorphous silicon. Ideally, spectral effects would be derived using photovoltaic module spectral responsivity and spectroradiometer data, but this is rarely feasible. Two alternative methods are presented and discussed. The first method is the semiempirical PVSPEC model developed by CanmetENERGY and Canadian Solar, which estimates spectral mismatch factor using clear-sky index and absolute air mass. The second method uses satellite-based spectral irradiance products, namely the National Renewable Energy Laboratory National Solar Radiation Database Spectral on Demand (NSRDB-S) and Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring Spectral Resolved Irradiance (CM-SAF SRI). These methods are developed and tested for six photovoltaic module technologies using spectroradiometer and meteorological data at seven ground stations.

Sophie Pelland received a Ph.D. in theoretical particle physics from Cornell University in 2001. She worked as a Senior Solar Energy Assessment Analyst at Vaisala from 2015 to 2018, where she performed probabilistic modeling of the energy yield of utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) plants worldwide and lead Vaisala’s R&D in this field. She was a Research Officer at CanmetENERGY from 2005 to 2014, and rejoined CanmetENERGY in 2018 as a Physical Sciences Specialist in the Renewable Energy Integration group. Her research interests include PV system performance and modeling, solar resources, and renewable energy integration into electricity grids.

Dr. Pelland is the Canadian representative to the International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Systems Programme Task 16 on “Solar Resource for High Penetration and Large Scale Applications”. She is also part of the Canadian committee developing international standards on non-concentrating, terrestrial photovoltaic modules within the International Electrotechnical Commission Technical Committee 82 Working Group 2.

Monica Gattinger is Director of the Institute for Science, Society and Policy, Full Professor at the School of Political Studies and Founder/Chair of Positive Energy at the University of Ottawa. She is an award-winning researcher and highly sought-after speaker, adviser and media commentator in the energy and arts/cultural policy sectors. Her innovative research programme convenes business, government, Indigenous, civil society and academic leaders to address complex policy, regulatory and governance challenges. She has published widely in the energy and arts/cultural policy fields, with a focus on strengthening decision-making in the context of fast-past technological change and markets, changing social values, and lower levels of trust in governments, industry, science and expertise.

Dr. Gattinger is Fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, board member of the Clean Resource Innovation Network, and serves on advisory committees for Énergir, the Institute on Governance, the National Research Council Canada, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, the Ontario Energy Board, the Ottawa Science Policy Network and the University of Calgary. She chairs the Editorial Board of the University of Ottawa Press and is a columnist for JWN Energy’s Daily Oil Bulletin. She received the 2020 Clean50 Award for her thought leadership in the energy sector. She holds a PhD in public policy from Carleton University.

Carla Miner is an Investment Lead at Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) and is responsible for a diverse and ever-changing portfolio of cleantech companies.

She was awarded a PhD in Physics from the University of Ottawa (1985). At that time, she was a materials scientist at Bell Northern Research (BNR) where her work focused on the growth and characterization of III-V semiconductor materials and devices. It resulted in 11 patents and 75 papers in peer reviewed journals. Her work led to roles of increasing responsibility within BNR-Nortel cumulating in that of Senior Manager, Nortel Networks Optical Components.

Since leaving Nortel she has worked at two start-up companies, Picarro (making diode pumped lasers and cavity ring down spectrometers) and Group IV Semiconductor (developing solid state lighting). At SDTC she continues the start-up life, albeit vicariously, by working with entrepreneurs from across Canada.

Yuri Grinberg is an Associate Research Officer in Digital Technologies Research Center, National Research Council of Canada (NRC). He obtained his PhD degree in Computer Science from McGill University in 2014, focusing on theoretical and applied artificial intelligence and machine learning, and held an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow position in Ottawa Hospital Research Institute until 2015.

His current research interests are development and use of machine learning methods to address problems and advance state-of-the-art in physics and engineering. In particular, in the last four years he has been primarily involved in the use of AI in design of photonic components. He has been the scientific lead of AI-Assisted Photonic Components Design theme within the NRC-developed AI for Design Challenge Program since its inception in 2019. He has coauthored over 40 peer reviewed articles and given numerous invited talks.

Dr. Seth Hubbard is currently Professor of Physics and Microsystem Engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology as well as serving as Director of the NanoPower Research Laboratories.  He is an expert in III-V materials growth and III-V optoelectronic devices. His team of graduate students and research scientists work on the epitaxial growth, device fabrication and related characterization of various solar and energy harvesting devices.  He has authored or co-authored over 200 journal and conference publications on electronic and photovoltaic devices and received an NSF CAREER Award as well as the Rochester Institute of Technology Trustee’s Scholarship Award. Dr. Hubbard serves as an Editor of the IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics and was general chair of the 47th IEEE Photovoltaics Specialists Conference in 2020.  Dr. Hubbard received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from The University of Michigan Ann Arbor studying high power GaN and AlGaN heterojunction field effect transistors.