USPCAS-E scholars in it to win at Arizona Student Energy Conference

Scholars from the U.S.-Pakistan Centers for Advanced Energy, better known as USPCAS-E, who attend the University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar and Arizona State University will be bringing home an award that will make their friends, family and country proud.

They competed with a range of graduate and postdoctoral level candidates from Arizona’s top universities in an annual two-day symposium focusing on renewable energy, technology and policy at the Sixth Annual Student Conference on Renewable Energy Science, Technology and Policy.

Muhammad Shoaib Khalid, Khuram Shahzad, Kiran Israr, Adnan Zahid and Ahmad Amin were honored with the Distinguished Poster Award. Their poster was titled, “Hybrid Energy Testbeds for Remote Communities of Pakistan” and focused on the integration of different types of generation systems, like using solar, micro-hydro and biomass systems.

USPCAS-E is a major energy research project funded by USAID in Pakistan dealing with applied and joint research. This project poster, like USPCAS-E’s goals, is focused on improving conditions for the scholars’ home country which suffers from extreme rolling blackouts in urban as well as in rural areas.

Shahzad stated that, “According to [a] World Bank report, 44 percent of [Pakistan’s] rural population is not connected to grid and deprived of electricity.” Exploring hybrid energy solutions could relieve the strain felt in rural Pakistan.

Khalid, principal investigator of the joint project emphasized the tapping of renewable energy resources for electrification of rural communities of Pakistan and the importance of their work at ASU’s Photovoltaic Reliability Lab under the supervision of Govindasamy Tamizhmani, a faculty member who studies energy efficient technologies in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. 

He explained that the joint project team, “aim[ed] to provide a foundation for [a] nationwide roll-out of microgrids with multiple generation[al] options including solar PV, solar/biomass, biomass, micro-hydro and genset.”

This is the fourth cohort of scholars participating in this USAID-funded exchange program. ASU is looking forward to hosting future award-winning scholars with the intent of furthering research into renewables while fortifying Pakistan’s energy future.