Engineering Professor Nazir Kherani on a Mission to Take Solar Power Mainstream: $5M Investment from Ontario Government Boosts Solar Research

“Solar energy stands to become a dominant part of the global energy mix. The biggest challenge in taking solar electricity mainstream is cost per watt.” says Nazir Kherani, an associate professor with cross appointments in The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Dr. Kherani received a substantial boost in tackling the high cost of solar energy. With a $5M investment from the Ontario Government’s Ministry of Research and Innovation, he was able to leverage an additional contribution of $5M direct and in-kind from ARISE Technologies Corporation of Waterloo, as well as a contribution of $5M in-kind from the University of Toronto; all contributions taking place over five years.

The research and development program will focus on high efficiency silicon photovoltaics, Dr. Kherani’s area of expertise. “Photovoltaics is the direct conversion of solar energy into electricity. Conversion is done through a photovoltaic device or solar cell. With every percentage increase of improvement, we can have a dramatic impact on reducing the overall cost per watt of solar electricity. We’re developing a set of ‘thin film on silicon wafer’ technologies that will result in the development of a prototype of a high efficiency silicon photovoltaic solar cell. Solar cells that are currently on the market have an average efficiency of just 15 per cent. We aim to reach an efficiency target of over 20 per cent using low-temperature processing.”

In this initiative, Dr. Kherani has assembled a multi-disciplinary group of co-investigators consisting of U of T Professors Stefan Zukotynski, Geoffrey Ozin, Jun Nogami, Uwe Erb and Doug Perovic, as well as University of Waterloo Professor Sivoththaman and international collaborators. Their wealth of knowledge and expertise will extend and deepen the resources of an existing, dedicated team consisting of U of T research associates, graduate students, post doctoral fellows and visiting engineers and scientists.

Experts believe that by the year 2020 solar power could deliver electricity to more than one billion people; and that it has the potential to support more than one fifth of the world with electricity needs by the year 2040.

“The global demand for environmentally friendly, economically viable, clean sources of sustainable energy has created opportunities in research, marketing, manufacturing and installation.  In particular, the economic potential for solar energy is huge. By 2010 the global market is predicted to be $30-40 billion a year and growing by 30 per cent annually,” says Dr. Kherani.

Dr. Kherani is involved in other solar initiatives as well. These include: the SDTC (Sustainable Development Technology Canada) sponsored silicon program at ARISE; the Self-Powered Sensor Networks project (specifically, solar powered sensors) also funded by the Ontario Government; Faculty Advisor to the U of T Blue Sky Solar Car team.

It is evident that Dr. Kherani’s research is in the right time and place: “We appreciate the wonderful support of the Ontario Government, our industry partner ARISE Technologies and the University of Toronto. With the confluence of vision, financial support and scientific enterprise, Ontario will be a significant contributor to the quest to make solar energy a practical reality.”
 

(home)