The two-year collaboration came into the spotlight Thursday when the researchers turned on a solar tracker to follow the sun in its daily course across the sky.
"We're now testing methodologies at the University of Ottawa to calibrate that type of (solar) cell and measure it at high intensities at the lab and ...see how these cells perform outside in the environment," said chief researcher Karen Hinzer.
However, behind the scenes, commercialization potential for the SUNRISE project is already brewing. Total government contributions in the project have topped $2.5 million so far.
Already the technology includes collaborations with Cyrium Technologies (based in Kanata), Toronto's Opel Technologies and the Business Development Bank of Canada.
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council serves as the chief funder, and research is being conducted both at the University of Ottawa and Universite du Sherbrooke in Quebec.
The cells have a structure that allow them to capture almost the entire spectrum of the sun – from the long-wave X-rays, through the light we can see, all the way to the short-wave infrared that we feel as heat.
Although the technology requires heavy infrastructure and a transformer that make it practically unsuitable for personal use, on a solar-farm scale – especially in sunnier clients – the work will quickly pay for itself, said Ms Hinzer.
She noted the development originally came from microelectronics research done at the height of the tech boom in Ottawa in the 1990s.
"It's more sophisticated, a newer form of technology, and Ottawa is a leader in this field because it's similar technology used at Nortel and JDS Uniphase to permit the optical revolution for both those companies ... there are a number of Ottawa-based companies working on this technology."
In Ottawa, Mark Yandt, a second-year master's student in electrical engineering at the University of Ottawa, is working on a project to collect data on how well the cells perform outside of the lab.
The new tracker was just installed at the Canadian Centre for Housing Technology, a six-acre NRC lot that includes houses similar to what a typical family would live in today.
Right now, the researchers are comparing how much energy a four-person family would use compared with how much the solar cells would give back to the grid using the technology.
"It would allow us to characterize exactly what the system is doing, modules, what sunlight is coming into the system and what electrical output (occurs)," Mr. Yandt said.
Ms. Hinzer noted the technology is currently 40 per cent efficient, but it has been developing rapidly. The theoretical limit is 82 per cent.
