Grant: College and Community Innovation Program

Lakeland is rural college located on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The College curricula and research reflect strengths in agriculture and energy, the two major industries in the region. In response to regional demand, Lakeland has established expertise in renewable energy (RE) including the recent construction of an off-grid applied research and technology demonstration laboratory. Both AB and SK are predicting large increases in energy demands over the next 10 years. Centralized energy generation plants are the norm in both provinces, but transmission losses can be as high as 63%. A simple solution to this problem is distributed generation. RE technologies, such as solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, geothermal and wind, are readily applicable to distributed uses, particularly in residential, remote, rural and small commercial applications that are highly relevant to our region. Most RE installations incorporate a single component technology, such as solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, geothermal or wind. Hybrid installations have the potential to achieve increased efficiency if the components are working in synergy. Lakeland plans to develop multi-component monitoring, diagnostic, control and visualization systems for RE technologies. In addition, the College plans to incorporate heat storage concepts into hybrid systems to solve daily, seasonal and low temperature space heating challenges for the region.NSERC funding will enhance and expand Lakeland's ability to deliver applied research solutions to advance the adoption of RE technologies in our region. This will be achieved through the development of relationships and linkages with stakeholder partners, increased regional industry awareness of Lakeland's renewable energy applied research capacity, and the generation of highly qualified trainees. This initiative will also support the development of the planned Renewable Energy Applied Research Centre at the College.