Team
Meet the exceptional team revolutionising photovoltaic and renewable energy research, pioneering energy projections, forecasting, sustainable energy solutions and energy transition.
Associate Prof. Merlinde Kay
Associate Professor
Associate Professor Merlinde Kay completed her bachelor's degree and PhD in atmospheric physics from the University of New South Wales. She then worked as a weather risk analyst providing weather forecasts for the energy sector. Currently she is an Associate Prof. in the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering (SPREE) leading the Energy Meteorology group. She has experience in short term weather forecasting, resource assessment (for all renewables), impacts of climate change on siting of renewable technologies, optimisation of hybrid RE systems with storage, integration of EV's and the impact of atmospheric particulates on the operation of solar technologies. Her current interest is in extremes weather events and the impact they have on energy infrastructure and renewables. The large scope of work has collaborators with the Climate Change Research Centre at UNSW, the CSIRO, University of South Australia, Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).
She is currently part of two ARENA projects working on soiling of PV modules and impacts of weather and climate on O&M modelling.
She is a member of the IEA PVPS Task 16 - Solar Resource for High Penetration and Large Scale Applications.
Associate Prof. Stephen Bremner
Associate Professor
Stephen Bremner received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from UNSW in 2003. Following this he spent three years investigating regrowth methods for single photon sources at the University of Cambridge. From 2006 to 2010 he oversaw novel concept photovoltaics research and III-V growth activities at the University of Delaware. Since 2010 he has been at UNSW, establishing a III-V molecular beam epitaxy growth capability, III-V on silicon integration leading to a certified world record for dual junction GaAsP/Si solar cell, as well as a patented room temperature contacting technique for silicon solar cells. For photovoltaics and RE on the larger scale he is investigating the use of weather forecasting and machine learning approaches to hybrid RE system design and operation, as well as the impacts for predicted climate change on performance of photovoltaic systems in the future.
Professor Jason Evans
Professor
I am a Professor at the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales. My research is focused on understanding regional climate phenomena including climate hazards. My work improves how we model these phenomena in regional climate models, and using these models to project how they will change in a future warmer climate. I also investigate general issues of water cycle processes over land, and how we can change them, largely through changes in land use and changes in climate. I focus at the regional (or watershed) scale and study processes including river flow, evaporation/transpiration, water vapour transport and precipitation.
The main tools of my research are models including regional climate models, land surface and hydrology models. Of course modelling needs to be informed by data and along with in-situ data, I use satellite data and weather radars.
Dr Abhnil Prasad
Postdoctoral Fellow
I am an atmospheric modeller at the forefront of efforts to bring atmospheric science knowledge to engineering and model-development problems. My research aims to understand the impact of weather and climate on solar and wind energy generation, and to develop new ways to improve weather and climate information for renewable energy risk management. The research spans a wide spectrum of space and time scales, from urban to global and minutes to centuries. The focus draws upon state-of-the-art meteorological tools (including numerical weather prediction, global and regional climate models, satellite and ground observations) to address a range of renewable energy sector issues, including solar/wind resource characterisation, solar/wind farm modelling, extreme events and insurance, nowcasting, forecasting, and the impacts of future climate change on the energy sector.
Shukla Poddar
Postdoctoral Fellow
After receiving a master’s degree in climate science and technology, Shukla joined the School of Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy Engineering at UNSW for her PhD. During her PhD she was also affiliated to the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes. Her PhD thesis explores the long-term viability of solar PV technology under different future climate scenarios. She primarily focused on understanding the impact of climate change on the PV power production at multiple timescales. She is also interested in long-term and short-term energy forecasting, ramp event prediction and understanding variability of solar energy resources.
In August 2023, she started her post-doc on an ARENA project of advanced O&M modelling. Her research will focus on understanding the implications of extreme weather events on energy generation, exploring synergy between wind and solar technology, modelling future PV module degradation rates.
Alejandra Isaza
Postdoctoral Fellow at CCRC
Alejandra is a last-year PhD student at the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy at UNSW. In her PhD project, Alejandra did a multi-scale assessment of the impacts of atmospheric aerosols and a changing climate on solar photovoltaic resources in Australia. Alejandra has industrial and research experience in weather and climate science applied to photovoltaic power modelling and air quality. She is also interested in atmospheric aerosols, bushfire meteorology and numerical weather prediction research. Alejandra will continue investigating extreme weather events and their impacts on wind energy resources as part of the Climate Change Research Centre at UNSW”.
Masood Ul Hassan
Phd Student
Masood Ul Hassan is a PhD researcher at UNSW's School of Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy Engineering (SPREE). His research focuses on optimizing electric vehicle integrated hybrid solar PV and battery systems for residential and small commercial use. With expertise in weather forecasting particular to cloud enhancement, hydrogen energy storage, Li-Ion batteries, electric vehicles, and solar PV, Masood is committed to advancing renewable energy solutions. His work integrates technical proficiency with a deep understanding of Australian energy markets, aiming to drive sustainability and efficiency in the renewable energy sector.
Naveed Hussain
Phd Student
I am an international PhD student from Pakistan at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. I am currently working on applied solar PV (Reliability and Durability) and my Ph.D. research is focused on “Techno-Economic Analysis of Effectiveness of Various Cleaning Methods for Different Solar PV Modules using Indoor Soiling Station under Different Climatic Conditions”.
I completed my MS in Energy Systems Engineering from the US Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Energy (USPCASE), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad. My MS research project was "Designing of Homemade Soiling Station to Study Soiling Loss Effects on PV Module Performance under Different Environmental Parameters”. Our designed indoor station qualified for the final stage of the NUST Finding Innovative & Creative Solutions (FICS) for Society Competition in 2020.
In 2019, I was a Research Exchange Student at Arizona State University, Photo-Voltaic Reliability Laboratory.
Dil Khush Meena
Phd Student
Dil Khush completed his master’s degree in India, where his thesis focused on researching the optimal tilt angle for solar PV modules, considering the effect of soiling. This work laid the foundation for his academic focus on soiling research. After completing his master’s degree in Renewable Energy, Dil Khush joined in the School of Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy Engineering at UNSW Sydney as a PhD student. He is currently working on an Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) project titled "High Dimensional Modelling of Environmental Conditions for Large-Scale Solar."
Alumni
Yuqing Yang (2019)
Impact of weather forecasting methods on optimisation of energy storage systems for hybrid power plants
Karthik Mukkavilli (2018)
Investigating Australian Dust Aerosol Spatiotemporal Effects on Direct Normal Irradiance Forecasts
Edward Law (2017)
Forecasting for concentrated solar thermal power plants in Australia
Dimitri Lazos (2017)
Development and applications of localised Numerical Weather Prediction models in building energy management