• PhD: Optimal energy infrastructure and storage system design for an electrified mine with battery-supported electric vehicles (BEVs) and associated machinery

Transitioning towards renewable energies from traditional fossil fuels for heavy industries is one of the most important strategies to mitigate their impact on climate change. In the mining industry, the carbon footprint depends on ore extraction and movement to onsite processing facilities, which demands a high amount of energy, water and use of diesel. Hence, the mining industry is moving towards electrification in line with the global trend for decarbonization. In this vein, an optimized microgrid energy infrastructure consisting of renewable and non-renewable power sources is crucial to provide an uninterrupted power supply and meet the energy demand in an electrified mine with battery-supported electric vehicles (BEVs) and associated electric machinery. In this regard, my doctoral research aims to develop a systematic and general algorithm for optimal microgrid technology selection and sizing based on rigorous techno-economic and carbon emission models and trade-off analyses between cost, reliability, and emission in the mining industry.

• MPhil: Techno-economic feasibility assessment of using solar energy for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Sunway transport system

Solar Photovoltaics (PV) have become one of the significant renewable energy sources to produce sustainable and clean energy. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest to utilize solar energy for residential and commercial applications. Comparatively, little has been used in transport sector. Until date, transport sector heavily depends on the fossil fuels and this has caused high carbon emissions thus damaging the environment. To bring sustainable development in transport sector, Electric Vehicles (EV) were introduced as is the case of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) electric buses on BRT-Sunway Line. However, these EVs are charged using conventional grid which are mostly depended on fossil fuels power plants. My MPhil research therefore developed a model to investigate the techno-economic feasibility of solar energy for an electric bus depot. The influence of the bus charging routine (BCR) on the techno-economic performance of solar PV systems was also investigated.

• BEng: Improved design of power capacitor and sustainability in harsh condition

Power capacitor is considered as a useful component for the transmission line. It is used in order to reduce the inductivity. If the inductivity is high in the transmission line larger quantities of current will be flown through. That is why the consumer’s electricity bill will be much higher. In order to solve this problem power capacitor has been installed. Power capacitor reduces the inductivity in the transmission line and improves the power factor. Electricity bill will be reduced for the consumers if power capacitor has been improved. However, quality power capacitor manufacturing has always been challenging as transmission line has very high voltage and power capacitor has to sustain that voltage level. If there is faulty condition and power capacitor is not sustainable enough in that harsh condition, it may explode and it will create severe harm to the humans and the environment. In my research, improved design of power capacitor has been elaborated with quality testing and also research has been done on possible reasons to explode and make the design more reliable so that it can sustain harsh condition.