My talk will introduce the Nature Research portfolio of journals with a particular focus on applied sciences and engineering research publishing. I will talk about the motivation behind the launch of some of our new journals, what we hope to achieve and their editorial scope. I will give an overview of the editorial processes and the journey an article undergoes between submission and publication, discussing what the editors are looking for in a Nature paper. I will conclude with a few comments about our recent publishing initiatives and policies.

ENOWA and KAUST are entering a strategic research and development partnership where a number of cutting-edge applications are expected to be developed in the domains in Energy and Water utilities. The presentation is an overview of select activities that pertain to the R&D in Solar energy space.

Patent is not the only protection one can seek. There are various types of Intellectual properties such as trademark, copyright and trade secrets which might be more appropriate to use. Learn more about them and when might be appropriate to use them.

This is a parallel session on solar system design and optimization for early career researchers in KSC lab.

Please meet the KSC lab team in the conference registration area at 11:00 am.

Location: Lobby area of the seaside of Level 2, Building 5.

The transition from industrial to renewable energy revolution is a shift from the traditional use of fossil fuels as the primary source of energy to the use of clean, sustainable and renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal. This transition is driven by the increasing awareness of the negative impacts of the burning of fossil fuels on the environment and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The renewable energy revolution is gaining momentum as more and more countries are making commitments to reduce their carbon footprint and adopt cleaner energy sources. The industrial revolution, which took place in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, was characterized by the development of new machinery and the increased use of coal and oil as energy sources. This revolution had a profound impact on the global economy, job market and economic opportunities, but it also resulted in negative environmental consequences. The burning of fossil fuels led to air and water pollution and the release of greenhouse gases, contributing to global warming and climate change.

In recent decades, the growing awareness of these environmental impacts has led to a shift towards renewable energy sources. Solar, wind, hydro and geothermal energy are clean, renewable and sustainable sources of energy that emit no greenhouse gases and do not contribute to climate change. These sources of energy also provide many economic benefits, including job creation, reduced dependence on foreign oil and lower energy costs. Governments around the world are playing a key role in this transition by setting targets for renewable energy use and providing incentives for businesses to invest in renewable energy projects. The Paris Agreement, signed by nearly 200 countries in 2015, set the goal of limiting global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. This agreement has been a catalyst for increased investment in renewable energy and has led to the development of new technologies and innovations in the sector.

Despite progress in the transition to renewable energy, the shift from industrial to renewable energy is not happening fast enough. According to the International Energy Agency, the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix has increased from 20% in 2015 to 26% in 2020. However, this is not enough to achieve the goals set by the Paris Agreement, and more action is needed. One of the key challenges in the transition to renewable energy is the need for investment in skilled manpower, infrastructure and the development of new technologies. Though, the cost of renewable energy has fallen significantly in the recent years, making it more accessible and cost-competitive with fossil fuels. However, there is still a need for investment in the development and deployment of new technologies and the work force which can maintain these new technologies, such as large PV fields, energy storage, and electric vehicles.

In conclusion, the transition from industrial to renewable energy revolution is a vital step towards a cleaner and more sustainable future. The shift to renewable energy sources offers significant environmental and economic benefits, but it requires sustained efforts and investment. The transition must be driven by governments, businesses and individuals, who must work together to make it a reality. It is a pleasure to see the contribution of KAUST in terms of educating and training the new generation in the field of renewable energy. The future of our planet and the well-being of our next generations depend on our ability to make this transition a success.

• Renewable Energy Workforce Plan and RoadMap

• Major Stakeholders for HCB Initiative

• Training Programs Development

• KSC role in HCB efforts for Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030

In the presentation I will discuss the multiple ways how monolithic perovskite/silicon can be fabricated, built from textured silicon heterojunction solar cells, with an emphasis on solution of the perovskite top cell. Bulk and contact passivation of the perovskite are instrumental to obtain a high performance, which can be obtained through molecular additive engineering. This will be followed by a discussion about the outdoor performance of such tandems and the need for robust and perovskite-compatible encapsulation to do so. I will then move on to discuss reliability aspects of such tandems under accelerated degradation tests such as damp-heat testing, as well as possible mechanical failure due to top-contact delamination. I will conclude my talk with arguing how bifacial perovskite/silicon tandems aid in improved performance as well as stability, thanks to their reliance on narrow-bandgap perovskites for optimal performance.

Recently, climate change is a key issue that the world must face. Renewable energy is considered a potential technology to stop global warming and meet the energy demand. However, renewable sources are unstable and therefore need a conversion method to store electricity generated. Solar liquid fuel is a possible method to store renewable energy in liquid form. This research project concentrates on solar to liquid fuel. The research demonstrates the technology that converts solar energy into formic acid and stores it the ambient conditions. The simulations will compute the electricity generated by the PV system daily and monthly and the mass of formic acid that could be produced by using solar energy. The two-axis solar tracking system is simulated for the PV panels. Two important parameters of the two-axis solar tracker are investigated: the elevation angle and the Azimuth angle. The machine learning algorithms like ANN and SVM are deployed to model the PV power and formic acid production by the causal variables. SVM has outperformed the ANN in terms of better prediction capacity for the two objectives, i.e., PV power and Formic Acid production. The model can be deployed to predict the two objectives under the impact of the causal variables.

Location: Level 3, Building 5

Please meet the KSC lab team in the foyer of Building 5 on 15:45 pm.