Solar Power and Campus Cogeneration: A Living Labs Lecture

In the time since BCIT installed the solar tower at SE01, its first solar power demonstration project in 2003, solar has grown from an unusual, costly electricity source (0.01% of world electricity use) to a leader in power generation growth (6% of world electricity use – enough to power all of Canada, the UK, France, and Germany combined).

This lecture by AES Engineering and BC Hydro looks at the status of solar technology, its viability in rainy coastal BC, and its potential applications at BCIT.

Topics include opportunities to integrate solar into new campus buildings and the economics, benefits and risks involved. BC Hydro will also provide an overview of their programs to enable and support solar installations for commercial & institutional electricity users and potential benefits from the utility perspective.

Presenters:

• Brent Lipson, Senior Associate AES Engineering
• Shantanav Bhowmick, Program Manager BC Hydro

Brent Lipson is a Senior Associate with AES Engineering, an electrical engineering consulting firm with a focus on building power, lighting, and technology systems.  Brent has 20 years of power systems design experience, focused on healthcare, transit, and other institutional facilities, and interconnection of distributed generation systems ranging from 10 to 2000 kilowatts.  He is active in electrical code and standards development and has authored research studies looking at the potential for using DC power distribution to improve power system efficiency, resilience, demand response, and solar + storage integration.

Shantanav Bhowmick is a Program Manager, with BC Hydro’s Industrial and Large commercial Product Management team. He manages the load displacement and energy audit programs; and supports customers from different sectors to take leverage of these programs. Prior to his 2 years in BC Hydro, Shantanav worked in the pulp & paper industry in Prince George, BC for 9 years in a variety of roles from high-voltage electrical engineering to project and energy management. Outside of work, Shantanav practices and teaches Yoga at local gyms in Maple Ridge and Langley; and moves traveling and camping in summer.