Staff profile
Cai Williams
Research Postgraduate - Advanced Materials and Electronic Devices Node
| Affiliation |
|---|
| Research Postgraduate - Advanced Materials and Electronic Devices Node in the Department of Engineering |
Biography
In 2019 I completed my undergraduate studies at Bangor University in Electronic Engineering MEng (First Class Honours) additionally being awarded the John Robert Jones prize for most meritorious academic performance across all subjects across the university. During my studies I undertook projects in examining the performance of building integrated photovoltaics and a multidisciplinary project developing interventions for improving urban spaces in Queretaro, Mexico, using the using the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals as guidelines for their design.
Following Graduation, I joined Durham University and the Renewable Energy Northeast Universities (ReNU) CDT in October 2019 where my research project is centred on the modelling of emerging photovoltaics devices at various scales.
Research Project
Much of the research regarding emerging photovoltaics concentrates on improving the efficiency of devices under standard test conditions, yet beyond the lab different measures may be used when considering the development of solar farms. My research project seeks to enable the consideration of these factors, such as the levelised cost of energy and carbon equivalent emissions, when developing novel devices. This is achieved through a series of models allowing for the translation of device characteristic from experimental work to estimations of power yield from solar farms, with power yield calculated these farms may be introduced to the grid, allowing of the calculation of various measures of performance. Considering such factors may enable the identification of new possible use cases for emerging photovoltaics devices as well as identify how wider factors may impact the utility of emerging photovoltaics.