1st Solar Energy Day Event at Dhahran Techno Valley

The Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy (CORE-RE) organized the 1st Solar Energy Day event on Wednesday, 24th of April, 2019, at the Dhahran Techno Valley - (DTV), Auditorium.

Due to the global warming and the increasing energy demand (residential, commercial and utility scale), in the KSA, there is an urgent need to develop technologies to ensure clean and sustainable solar energy production. Solar Photovoltaics (PV) systems is a promising electricity source. During the Solar Day event, KFUPM experts from academia discussed the design and performance of various types of solar energy technologies, and the challenges faced by the industry to produce electricity through PV systems at lower costs.

On this occasion, Dr. Nasser Al-Aqeeli delivered a welcome address and inaugurated the event.

The event induction also included an introductory speech by Dr. Fahad A. Al-Sulaiman, Director, Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy (CORE-RE), highlighting the current Solar Energy Research Focus at KFUPM.

The event featured a good number of different solar energy related speeches and presentations by 12 experts from KFUPM, who presented their analysis and thorough review of the progress, and challenges facing the development of cost effective and more efficient solar energy related devices and technologies.

The list of speakers and their focused topics included:

1. Dr. Mohammad AlGhoul, Senior Scientist, Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy, KFUPM, who presented a speech on Solar Desalination.
2. Dr. S.A.M Said, Professor, M.E Department, KFUPM who presented a speech on Photovoltaic Power Generation for Harsh Weather
3. Dr. Fahhad Alharbi, Associate Professor, EE Dept, KFUPM, who presented a speech on The instability of CH3NH3PbI3 Solar Cells
4. Dr. Yilbas, Bekir S, Distinguished Professor, M.E Department, KFUPM who presented a speech on Self-Repellent Surfaces for solar panel applications.
5. Dr. Mohammed Ashraf Gondal, Distinguished Professor, Physics Department, KFUPM who presented a speech on Development of Third Generation Solar Cells: Dye Sensitized and Perovskite Solar Cells
6. Dr. Abdualziz Al- Aswad, Chairman, Physics Department, KFUPM, who presented a speech on Stability of Solar Cells
7. Dr. Kamal Hossain, Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy, KFUPM, who presented a speech on Spectral Characteristics of Nanometric Absorber: A Simple Way to Develop Plasmonic Nanostructures for Efficient Solar Energy Harvesting.
8. Dr. Mokheimer, Esmail, Professor, M.E Department, KFUPM, who presented a speech on Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Plants
9. Dr. Amjad Ali, Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy, KFUPM, , who presented a speech on Energy Policy & Standards
10. Dr. Fahad Saleh Al-Ismail, EE Department, KFUPM, who presented a speech on Power system planning & reliability, integrated energy resources planning, energy storage system planning and operation
11. Dr. Aamir Al Ahmed, Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy, KFUPM, who presented a speech on Battery Based Storage for Solar Energy Systems
12. Dr. Faizur Rahman , Center for Refining and Petrochemicals, KFUPM, who presented a speech on Vanadium Flow Battery: An Emerging Technology for Large Scale Electricity Storage Applications

After the success of the 1st Solar Energy Day event, CORE-RE intends to continue the series of Solar Energy Day related events on diverse focused topics. The Solar Energy Day will be continually offered several times a year to firmly establish to exchange the knowledge between KFUPM researchers and experts in the region.