Topic: Solar thermal components: latest development in China

He Tao, professor of engineering, is director of research center for solar energy of China Academy of Building Research and deputy director of National Center for Quality Supervision and Testing of Solar Heating Systems. He Tao is IEA SHC Executive Committee representative of China, and currently in his second term as vice chairman. Furthermore, he is Secretary-General of Committee of Solar Thermal Conversion, China Renewable Energy Society. In past 20 years, his main researches are solar heating & cooling application in building, solar thermal system testing and building energy efficiency. He Tao led the development of most of national solar thermal standards and the establishment of 3 national solar thermal testing laboratories. He Tao is full of experiences of national and international research projects by involving or leading in National key research and development plans, UNDP project, UNF project and WB & GEF China Basic Health Services project.

Topic: Solar thermal standards and certification

Jan Erik Nielsen worked almost 20 years at the Danish Solar Energy Test Lab at the Danish Technological Institute as researcher and manager of the Solar Thermal department.  In 2003 he establish the consulting company SolarKey Int., dealing with quality assurance aspects of solar thermal products, especially standardisation and certification. Jan Erik Nielsen has been a delegate to ISO/TC 180 since 1987 and to CEN/TC 312 since 1996. He is Chairman of the corresponding Danish mirror committees.  Jan Erik Nielsen is one of the fathers of the very successful European Solar Keymark certification scheme – acting now as the “Solar Keymark Network Manager”. He has participated in misc. IEA SHC project since 1988 – being Operating agent of Task 43 “Solar Rating and Certification” and Task 57 “Solar Standards and Certification” – establishing in this last task the “Global Solar Certification Network” and acting here as the manager of this Network.  Jan Erik Nielsen is in parallel working together with the consulting company PlanEnergi in the field of Solar District Heating – his was Operating Agent for IEA SHC Task 45 “Large Scale Solar Heating and Cooling Systems”

Topic: SHC and solar cooling

Prof. White has over 25 years experience in solar air-conditioning, energy end use efficiency, and electricity industry demand side management.  He leads CSIRO's Energy Efficiency research and is a Program Leader in the Low-Carbon-Living Cooperative Research Centre.  He has played a leadership/advisory role in a number of organisations including the Australian Institute of Refrigeration Air-conditioning and Heating (AIRAH), the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC), the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and the International Energy Agency SHC Task48 “Quality Assurance and Support Measures for Solar Cooling”.  He oversees energy efficiency modelling software used for regulating the residential construction industry under the Australian National Construction Code. His research has resulted in award winning solar cooling demonstrations, the world first AS5389 Technical Standard for Solar Heating and Cooling, and IP commercialization through a number start-up companies. He is a member of the Australian Refrigeration and Building Services (ARBS) “Hall of Fame” 

Topic: Solar Cooling potential in the MENA region

Dr Daniel Mugnier has a long professional experience in engineering solar thermal systems for large DHW applications and above all solar heating and cooling systems. Managing the R&D department of TECSOL - one of the French leading solar engineering company - Daniel Mugnier is involved as well in numerous R&D projects on solar cooling at the national, European and international level. He is also author of several publications and presentations in international conference on solar cooling. TECSOL has achieved more than 50 feasibility studies on solar cooling and designed 10 working installations at the moment since 1990 on solar heating and cooling. He is currently Vice Chairman of the European Solar Thermal Technology Platform and Operating Agent of the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Program for the Task 53 dedicated to the New Generation of Solar Cooling and Heating systems (PV or solar thermally driven systems).

Topic: Trends in Concentrated Solar Power with Integrated Thermal Energy Storage

Dr. Nicolas obtained his Ph.D. in Engineering Science (Energy and Environment) in 2010 at the PROMES CNRS Laboratory in France. His thesis was about different thermal energy storage (TES) materials and processes, using latent and sensible heat from low to high temperatures. In 2011, he joined the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in USA working on heat transfer fluids in the concentrated solar power (CSP) group. In 2012, he joined the CIC Energigune Energy Cooperative Research Centre in Spain where he kept working on thermal energy storage materials and systems. Finally in 2013, he joined Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in the United Arab Emirates as an Assistant Professor. He is the chair of the Masdar Institute Solar Platform, the first research and development platform in the UAE, entirely dedicated to CSP and TES. Finally he is the official UAE representative alternate at the SolarPACES Executive Committee, a technology collaboration program from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Mr. El-Ramahi is currently the Director, Asset Management, and Technical Services at Masdar Institute. He acts as the focal point of stakeholder management and interface with all utilities and service providers, leading all Masdar’s initiatives related to water and sustainability . He plays a key role in shaping governance and regulatory frameworks for the energy sector in Abu Dhabi and UAE, aligning with governments policies in relation to energy mix portfolio. He is also, member of the board of Shams-1 Power Company, one of the world’s largest concentrated solar power (CSP) projects and the first of its kind in the Middle East.

Topic: Geospatial Analysis of the Potential of Utility-Scale Photovoltaics in the UAE: Levelized Cost of Electricity and Site Zoning Recommendations

Mr. Arttu Tuomiranta is working as a research engineer at the Research Center for Renewable Energy Mapping and Assessment (ReCREMA) at Masdar Institute since 2012. ReCREMA was established in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in April 2012 as a regional research hub for solar resource and technology performance assessment in desert and arid environments. Mr. Tuomiranta is leading the centre’s solar technology assessment activities. His personal research interests include effective irradiance modelling for bifacial photovoltaic (PV) systems operated under desert conditions, uncertainty quantification and reduction in the yield prediction of PV power stations, and geospatial analysis of PV energy economics. He holds a M.Sc. (Tech.) in Engineering Physics from Aalto University and a M.Sc. in Engineering Systems and Management from Masdar Institute.

Topic: Urban planning for solar energy

Maria Wall is associate professor at the Division of Energy and Building Design, Lund University, Sweden. She has a MSc in Architecture and a PhD in Engineering. Her research includes different issues related to energy-efficient buildings as well as solar energy strategies. She is leader of the IEA SHC Task 51 on Solar Energy in Urban Planning and was former leader of SHC Task 41 on Solar Energy and Architecture. She was the main initiator and developer, and is also the Director of the 2-year Master’s Programme in Energy-efficient and Environmental Building Design at Lund University.

Topic: Sun-to-liquid: Progress and perspectives of solar hydrocarbon fuels

Dr. Andreas Sizmann is Head of “Future Technologies and Ecology of Aviation”. Dr. Andreas Sizmann joined Bauhaus Luftfahrt in 2007 and established future innovation potential assessment based on latest advancements in science and technology successively in the topics of future technology analysis methodology, energy technologies, alternative fuels, materials, information and communication technologies. Since 2011 he also serves as member of the Working Group “Protecting the Environment and the Energy Supply” of the Advisory Council for Aviation Research and Innovation in Europe (ACARE) and was member of the Expert Group of „Sustainable Alternative Fuels for Aviation“ (SUSTAF) of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in 2014.  He has more than 25 years research and management experience from assignments at Innovance Networks (Ottawa, Canada), Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich and University of Constance, IBM Almaden Research Center (San Jose, CA, USA) and Laboratiore Kastler Brossel de l’École Normale Supérieure (Paris, France).  Dr. Sizmann received several degrees in physics, the Habilitation at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen, the Doctorate degree of the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich and the Diploma in physics of the Technical University of Munich, Germany.

Topic: Solar energy forecast

Dr. Renne, the President of ISES, has been involved in the field of solar resource assessment for over 25 years.  From 1991 until his retirement in 2012 he led the solar resource assessment program at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory.  He served as Operating Agent for the International Energy Agency (IEA) Solar Heating and Cooling (SHC) Programme's Tasks 36/46 on Solar Resource Assessment and Forecasting from 2005 to 2016, and is also involved in the continuation of this work under the IEA Photovoltaic Power Systems (PVPS) Task 16. He is an Associate Editor in the subject are of solar resources and energy meteorology for the Solar Energy Journal. He has extensive international experience in solar resource assessment programs, where he has worked both as a program manager, a trainer, and a consultant on programs such as the UNEP Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment (SWERA) Project, the IRENA Global Atlas, ESMAP/World Bank solar and wind resource assessments, and USAID resource mapping activities in South and Southeast Asia.  

Topic: Professional training experience in Pacific Islands

Geoff Stapleton specialised in solar (PV) energy in the final year of his electrical engineering degree in 1981. He has worked in the solar industry since 1987 when he started as an engineer with BP Solar Australia. In 1989 he started his own company on the south coast of NSW where he designed, installed and maintained off grid power  systems. In the mid-1990’s he acted as a full time consultant for Integral Energy (electricity distributor) and in 1998 he was one of the co-founders of Global Sustainable Energy Solutions  Pty Ltd (GSES) . GSES is a multi-disciplinary organisation specialising training and engineering services. GSES is registered training organisation conducting training courses within Australia and internationally and publishes many training resources books.  GSES has undertaken projects in Africa, Asia and the Pacific islands. Geoff was a part-time lecturer at the University of NSW School of PV and RE engineering for 14 year. Geoff has been active with the various industry associations since 1991 and is on the Clean Energy Council’s Installers Reference Group : Member of Standards Australia RE committee  and IEC TC82; Board Member of International Solar Energy Society (ISES)  ; member of IEA PVPS Task 9- RE in Developing countries and secretary of the Sustainable Energy Industry Association of Pacific Islands (SEIAPI).