Page 89 - ISES SWC50

Ian Cowan
Country: Ireland
Year Started Research: 1978
Title of Research: Solar Pilot Test Facility
University: Institute for Industrial Research and Standards, Dublin
Still Active in Research: No

Ian Cowan’s postgraduate research was concerned with mathematical modelling and computer simulation of
the thermal response of buildings (PhD., 1977), which had applications in improving building design and control
systems to facilitate optimization of energy use and thermal comfort, including use of renewable energy. On joining
the Institute for Industrial Research and Standards in 1977, he assisted in a number of EC-funded projects then
ongoing, such as round-robin collaborative testing of solar thermal panels, and modelling of energy flows in buildings
with particular emphasis on casual solar gains. These projects led to the design and construction, initiated in 1978,
of a Solar Pilot test Facility, one of eight in then various EEC countries. The project had its origins in the endeavour
to bridge an important gap which had existed in the study of solar heating system performance: that between
monitoring real installations, and computer simulation. Whilst both have their value, they also have restrictions: for
instance the inevitable uncertainty in the determining parameters and difficulty in their variation in the former case,
and the uncertainty in the accuracy of the modelling techniques in the latter. The adopted solution to the problem was
the construction of Solar Pilot Test Facilities in various locations, and the development and validation of simulation
models of solar systems using data so produced. The facilities had real collection and storage components (two
subsystems: an identical reference system in each location, and specific national subsystems optimized for each
location), but the thermal loads were simulated by computer-controlled heat exchangers, the load profiles being
thus capable of variation with facility. The project commenced operation in 1979 and ran till 1983, during which
data were collected in both inter-comparison and system-specific studies. Based upon these an advanced computer
simulation model (EMGP2) was developed, as well as a simpler correlation model, to facilitate optimal solar system
design under European conditions.

Mark Diesendorf

Country: Australia
Year Started Research: 1978
Title of Research: Renewable energy sources and storage
University: CSIRO
Still Active in Research: Yes

In 1978 Mark Diesendorf initiated a research program on RE within the CSIRO Division of Mathematics & Statistics
and co-organised a national conference on Energy and People, which addressed energy policy as well as technologies.
The book was published in 1979 by the Society for Social Responsibility in Science (A.C.T.). Initial research was on
computer simulations and mathematical models of the integration of large-scale renewable energy into electricity
grids, focusing on wind power. This was at a time when large wind turbines were at the experimental or pilot stage
- there was no manufacturing industry. A paper entitled ‘Renewable energy and Storage’ was published in Nature
in 1978. Under pressure from fossil fuel interests, CSIRO terminated all renewable energy research in 1982-83
and Mark was retrenched in 1985. He continued to do RE research at the Australian National University (1985-
1986 and 1994-1996); the University of Technology Sydney, where he was Professor of Environmental Science
and Founding Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures (1996-2001); and UNSW Sydney (2004-present).
Following nominal retirement in 2016, Mark has continued to research at UNSW Sydney as an honorary. His
research at UNSW Sydney is partly on simulations of the operation of the Australian National Electricity Market
with 100% renewable energy, partly on the energy return on energy invested in renewable energy and partly in
energy policy. Although his principal research focus has been on large-scale renewable electricity in developed
countries, he has also done some research with two of his PhD students on renewable energy, not just electricity,
in developing countries.

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