How do we efficiently harness renewable energy?

Exploring resources, developing technologies, increasing efficiency and developing storage...

New energy technologies can make it possible to harness sources that are all around us but which have been underutilized. However, new forms of energy present numerous challenges, including the economic efficiency of conversion to a desired form (such as electricity or fuels), the practicality of energy storage, and the complexity of grid integration. Research projects within these five themes will develop new, more efficient and economical technologies for renewable energy production, while supporting their integration into current infrastructure.

Themes

Biomass

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Geothermal

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Grids & Storage

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Solar

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Wind

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Projects

Active, Stable, and Abundant Photocatalytic Materials for Hydrogen Fuels

Solar

Additive manufactured porous transport layers and bipolar plates for proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells

Grids & Storage

Additive Manufacturing of High Corrosion Resistant Materials for Small Modular Nuclear Reactors as a Clean Energy Source

Grids & Storage

Advanced Biological Fermentation Process Development

Biomass

Advanced reliability enhancement and cost reduction techniques for wind energy generation

Wind

Alberta Biojet Initiative (ABI): Upgrading of University of Alberta's LTH technology to Biojet

Biomass

Alternative Energy Generation: Strategic Design of Photovoltaic and Thermoelectric Materials Using Modular Chemistry and Assembly, Interface Engineering, and Spectroscopic Characterization

Solar

Artificial Photosynthesis Using Semiconductor Nanomaterials

Solar

Bifunctional Structural Battery Composites: Synergizing Mechanical Strength and Energy Storage Performance

Grids & Storage

Biobattery - Decentralized Production of Fuel from Forest and Agricultural Waste

Biomass

Bioconversion of Single-­Carbon Effluents into Biofuels and Biofuel Precursors

Biomass

Blockchain based smart contracts in the future smart grid

Grids & Storage

Catalytic Conversion of Bio-based Feedstock: Bottom-up Design of Sustainable Processes

Biomass

Composite Electrolyte Membranes for Solid-state Battery: Processing, Prototyping, a Lab-to-Market Endeavor

Grids & Storage

Control of CI Engines for Efficient and Robust Biomass Utilization

Biomass

Corrosion in Biomass/Fossil Fuel Co-Processing

Biomass

Current availability assessment of biomass resource in China and Canada and the potential for bilateral biomass trade to develop biomass co-firing in Chinese coal power plants

Biomass

Dependable and Autonomic Computing Platform for Managing Transactive Microgrids

Grids & Storage

Design optimization of ground-source heat pump systems

Geothermal

Development of a Modular Concentrated Solar Thermal System for High-Temperature Green Steam Generation

Solar

Development of high-performance solid oxide fuel cell stack with low degradation rate and fault tolerance for commercial applications

Grids & Storage

Development of Next-Generation Anaerobic Digestion System

Biomass

Discovery of single, bi- and multimetallic atom-based photocatalysts on semimetallic titania support for H2 production from water

Solar

Distributed Energy Management for More Electronics Smart Grids (Distributed Energy Management Initiative)

Grids & Storage

Distributed Energy Resources Management for Grid Modernization and Grid Transformation Applications

Grids & Storage

Distributed Energy Storage

Grids & Storage

Diversifying the Renewable Energy Portfolio with Double Perovskite PV Materials

Solar

Dynamic load control and EV charging field experiment

Grids & Storage

Economic Policy and the Future Electricity Grid

Grids & Storage

Energy Management Strategies for Distributed Energy Resources

Grids & Storage

Enhancing light matter interaction in solar technologies through metasurface enabled photovoltaic architectures

Solar

Fluid/Rock Interactions in Canada’s Geothermal Systems

Geothermal

Future Smart Grids Structures

Grids & Storage

High-capacity, Free-standing Electrodes for Lithium-ion and Sodium-ion Batteries

Grids & Storage

High-Density Power Conversion Technology for PV and Battery Systems

Grids & Storage

High-­throughput Materials Discovery through Materials Genomics

Solar

Hydrothermal Torrefaction of High Moisture Content Biomass

Biomass

Imaging, Characterizing and Modelling Canada’s Geothermal Resources

Geothermal

Infrastructure Assessment for Electrical Vehicle Charging in the Town of Banff

Grids & Storage

Interaction of converters in emerging smart grids: Stability analysis and control design

Grids & Storage

Investment Decisions and Policy Analysis

Biomass

Leveraging Automation and Technology to Enhance Demand-Side Flexibility

Grids & Storage

Market Design for Increased Wind Generation

Wind

Micro-scale energy harvesting technology in remote communities of Alberta

Wind

Multifunctional lightweight metallic coatings for sustainable energy generation systems in cold climates

Wind

New materials for Photovoltaics

Solar

Next Generation Energy Storage Using Unconventional Materials

Grids & Storage

Novel Rechargeable Battery Technology based on Zinc-Ion Intercalation Materials

Grids & Storage

Operational Decision Support for Smart Grids

Grids & Storage

Optimization of Small Wind Turbines for Gusty Wind Resources of Northern Canada

Wind

Optimizing Geothermal Energy Production and Utilization Technology

Geothermal

PCM Booster: Enhancement of the thermal properties and energy savings analysis of bio-based phase change materials

Biomass

Rational Design of Next-generation Lithium-Sulfur Batteries for Clean Energy Storage

Grids & Storage

Rational Design of Protective Interlayers for Next Generation All-Solid-State Lithium Batteries

Grids & Storage

Reconfigurable Metasurfaces for Solid-state Beam Steering in Solar Concentrators

Solar

Regulating lithium nitrate solvation chemistry in carbonate electrolytes for high-voltage Li-metal batteries

Grids & Storage

Regulation and Integration of Solar PV into Electricity Markets

Solar

Remote Micro-Grids

Wind

Research on Interfacial Control of Solid State Lithium Batteries

Grids & Storage

Resilience of electric vehicles during disasters

Grids & Storage

Socio-­economic Roadmaps to Commercial Geothermal Energy Production in W. Canada

Geothermal

Solvent-driven Crystallization of Lithium Hydroxide from Concentrated Aqueous Solution

Grids & Storage

Surface Science Hub for Clean Technology (SSH-CT)

Grids & Storage

Synthesis and utilization of ether fuels from forestry biomass in diesel engines

Biomass

Technical impact assessment of frozen soil on geothermal heat pump technology in western Canada

Geothermal

Ultra Low-Loading Noble Metal Catalysts for Enhanced Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) Electrolyzer Performance

Grids & Storage

Using Additive Manufacturing to Fabricate Non-precious Metal Electrodes for Water Electrolysis

Grids & Storage

Utility-­Scale Energy Storage

Grids & Storage

Vanadium Redox Flow Battery (VRFB) - technology comparison, acquisition of experience, development of use cases and energy management strategies

Grids & Storage

Wind Farm Operation and Grid Integration

Wind

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Researchers on Enabling Sustainability

Over seven years, Future Energy Systems plans to support more than 100 researchers and up to 1,000 Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP), including graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. To learn more about our researchers, visit the Researcher Directory.

Directory