Richard Corkish, Head of the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales, Australia, delivers a keynote speech at the 2nd WORLD EMERGING INDUSTRIES SUMMIT (WEIS 2013)

The subject of the speech: EMERGING SOLAR CELL RESEARCH AT UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

The abstract of the speech: Richard Corkish, Head, School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering and COO, Australia-US Institute for Advanced Photovoltaics, The University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052 Australia.

The University of New South Wales has carried out silicon solar cell research since the mid 1970s, when it achieved world recognition. The UNSW solar cell research group has been one of the global leaders in research and new and, since 2000, pioneered specialised undergraduate education in photovoltaics engineering. The Photovoltaics and Solar Energy undergraduate program is a four year full-time Engineering undergraduate program covering device theory; photovoltaic technology and manufacturing; photovoltaic applications and system design; policy and analysis and modelling; renewable energy technologies and sustainable energy. A partner undergraduate program, Renewable Energy Engineering, encompasses a broader range of renewable energy technologies including solar thermal, wind, biomass, solar architecture and the design of energy efficient buildings. The School also offers postgraduate coursework programs and two research programs: a Masters by Research and a Doctor of Philosophy. The presentation will explain the programs and recent developments.

The School’s photovoltaics devices research has five main strands. Firstly, it continues to improve the commercially dominant technology of silicon wafer solar cells. For example, strong advances are continuing to be made in selective emitter technologies in collaboration with Asian companies and a new hydrogenation advances promise the ability to make excellent cells from low quality wafers. In the second research strand the School works on crystalline silicon, CZTS and organic thin film cells. Third generation solar cells research uses advanced physics to investigate structures, including some based on silicon quantum dots, to try to affordably exceed the fundamental limits that apply to any of the above methods. Fourthly, work at UNSW on the emission of (infrared) light from silicon some years ago led to the development of photoluminescence as a contactless characterisation method. The fifth area is in cell-to-module loss reduction. Aside from photovoltaics devices, the School also carries out research into building integrated photovoltaics, solar energy systems, solar and wind energy forecasting, energy efficiency, combustion modelling and energy policy. The presentation will introduce these research topics.