Dr. Nowshad Amin Professor of Renewable Energy and Solar Photovoltaics, Institute of Sustainable Energy (ISE)
Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN)

Title: Potential Research Fronts in Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Technology Abstract: Recognizing global warming issue as one of the most concerned ones, countries around the globe are now more vigilant such as limiting fossil fuels to the best. The quest for alternative energy resources is no more a fairy tale rather a compulsion to the mankind. Even though Nuclear Power was supposed to be the most effective energy producer over the past few decades, solar energy in the form of Solar Photovoltaics (PV) has proven to be the most potential renewable energy resource to date. Since the inception of successful solar cell at Bell Labs in 1954, rigorous efforts were made to achieve real benefit from it and that is why mega to giga-watt-peak solar farms are quite visible today. In this talk, historical chronology on PV technologies will be shared together with practical implementation examples such as nuclear equivalent solar farms around the world to give strong hope to all especially on solar PV energy. Moreover, some futuristic research works will be discussed from our ongoing works. Related issues on the possible optoelectronic materials for various solar PV generation as well as R&D prospects will also be discussed to demonstrate the potentialities of future solar photovoltaic technology. Biography: Professor Dr. Nowshad Amin is a Professor at the College of Engineering (seconded to Institute of Sustainable Energy) of Universiti Tenaga Nasional (@ UNITEN, The National Energy University). Prior to this, he served 11 years in the Dept. of Electrical, Electronic & Systems Engineering of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (@UKM, The National University of Malaysia), where he also led the Solar Photovoltaic Research Group under the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI). After the higher secondary education (HSC 1989) with distinctions from his native country, Bangladesh, he received the Japanese Ministry of Education (MONBUSHO) scholarship in 1990. Accomplishing Japanese Language diploma in 1991, he achieved a diploma in Electrical Engineering (1994) from Gunma National College of Technology, Bachelor (1996) in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Toyohashi University of Technology, Masters (1998) and PhD (2001) on solar photovoltaic technology (Thin Film Solar Cell) from Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo, Japan). Later, he pursued Postdoctoral fellowship in the University of South Florida, USA and briefly worked at Motorola Japan Ltd (Later became Freescale Semiconductors Ltd.). His areas of expertise include Microelectronics, Renewable Energy, solar photovoltaic cell development. Additionally, his research focuses on the commercialization of solar photovoltaic energy Products from his patented entities; as such he served as the CTO cum director of a University Spin-off company financed by the Malaysian Technology Development Center (MTDC). He has been serving as the project-leader as well as co-researcher of many government (Malaysia) and international (NSF-USA, Saudi National Grant, Qatar Foundation etc.) funded projects. He has authored more than 350 peer-reviewed publications, a few books and book chapters. He also served as a visiting professor to the King Saud University of Saudi Arabia from 2010 to 2015. He is actively involved in promoting Renewable Energy to the developing countries in South and South East Asia, working as an enthusiastic promoter for the affordable solar photovoltaic technologies.