Here’s what happened at our first-ever Clean Energy Expo
Last month, the Centre for Urban Energy opened its doors for its first-ever Clean Energy Expo. The expo attracted over 100 members of the Ryerson community and wider public to our stunning new home to learn about the latest happenings in alternative energy research, innovation and education.
The day showcased our researchers and graduate students who have been addressing important questions in areas such as energy storage, smart grids, renewables, transactive energy systems and more.
The main expo floor hosted booths from the Clean Energy Zone, NSERC’s Energy Storage Technology Network, Ryerson’s Professional Master’s Diploma in Energy and Innovation and Plug n’ Drive (external link, opens in new window) , one of our graduated Clean Energy Zone startups. Attendees were also able to take guided tours of our state-of-the-art labs, including the Schneider Electric Smart Grid Laboratory and Transactive Energy Distribution System Laboratory, and test-drive the all-electric BMW i3, courtesy of Plug n’ Drive.
The expo featured special guest speaker, Brian Gallant, the former premier of New Brunswick. Gallant spoke about the current state of the energy sector in Canada, its challenges and opportunities and what’s to come moving forward. “Providing Canadians with reliable, safe, secure, sustainable and competitive energy and electricity is crucial to the future prosperity of our country,” he began. You can listen to his full talk below.
We were also delighted to be joined by Joe Bilé, Manager of Business Development at Toronto Hydro, and Katherine Sparkes, Director of the Innovation, Research and Development team at the IESO, who assisted in presenting our latest Toronto Hydro- and IESO-sponsored student research awards.
“I was flattered to know that our work is getting recognized by a very important industry partner. This shows that we’re succeeding in bridging the gap between theoretical research and industry applications in the field of power systems here at CUE,” said Abdelrahman Aldik, one of the recipients of an IESO award. “It’s also an acknowledgement to the importance of supporting graduate students and nurturing them to allow them to thrive and succeed.”
"I feel honoured by receiving this award,” said Ayman Elkasrawy, another award winner. “I appreciate IESO's support and contribution to our research work.”
We’d like to extend a huge congratulations to all of the award winners as well as a big thanks to everyone who came out to the expo last month. We hope you left having learned something new and are suitably inspired by what the future of the energy industry has in store!
You can view photos from the Expo on our Facebook page. (external link, opens in new window)
Aaliyah Dasoo is a third-year journalism student at Ryerson University
"Providing Canadians with reliable, safe, secure, sustainable and competitive energy and electricity is crucial to the future prosperity of our country."