Large-Scale Solar: TomKat Center Seed Grant Research

With the occurrence of extreme weather events increasing and the effects of climate change impacting our food and water resources, the imperative to transform our energy system is self-evident. The TomKat Center Seed Grants fund research from across Stanford University that has the potential to contribute to a sustainable energy system. Results of four of their large-scale solar projects will be presented.

The TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy funds research in science, technology and policy that will lead to a transformation of the world's energy systems for a sustainable future. The seed grants fund faculty research with the potential for high impact. At the Energy Seminar we will discuss the results of some of our Large-Scale Solar funded projects. Solar power generating stations could help us get to an energy system that supports a sustainable future, but very complex, very important barriers must be overcome. Most of the research results in the TomKat Center's Large-Scale Solar set of research grants could apply to large arrays of photovoltaic cells, which get their energy from sunlight, and to concentrating solar power installations, which convert the sun's heat into electricity usually via a turbine. Additionally, some of the research could also help with other intermittent renewable sources, like wind.

The projects being presented are:

• Upconverter-Enhanced Molecular Photovoltaics: Towards Cost-Effective, Broadband Solar Energy Conversion
  PI: Jennifer Dionne and Michael McGehee
• Consuming Renewable Power: Information and Reliability as a Resource
  PI: Ram Rajagopal
• Storing Electricity in the Form of Chemical Bonds: An Alkaline Exchange Membrane Unitized Regenerative Fuel Cell
  PI: Thomas Jaramillo and Curtis Frank
• Effects of Large-Scale Solar Energy on Land and Water Resources in the Southwest United States
  PI: Chris Field, Noah Diffenbaugh and David Lobell

Presenters: Jennifer Dionne, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering;
Ram Rajagopal, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering;
Thomas Jaramillo, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering;
David Lobell, Assistant Professor of Environmental Earth System Science