School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering

Paul Rowley is Senior Lecturer in Renewable Energy within CREST. His research & teaching focuses on various aspects of energy, with the aim of contributing to the development of effective and economic low carbon energy systems. He has over 20 years experience within the energy sector and currently leads a team of 6 researchers at Loughborough engaged in multi-parametric modelling and evaluation of energy systems, including recent work on the use of risk-based systems approaches in due diligence processes for renewable energy systems. Other research areas currently being studied include whole system analysis, building energy modelling, monitoring and evaluation, energy storage, heat pump technologies and the charactersiation of photovoltaics for building applications.

He also leads the RDA-funded £1M SHINE-ZC zero carbon community energy programme. In addition, his international portfolio of work includes research commissioned by Alcatel-Lucent’s USA-based Bell Labs, which involves the development of low carbon whole-system techno-economic solutions for future ICT networks. Dr Rowley is also a qualified teacher, and has a strong interest in the development of effective teaching and learning approaches for energy education. He was previously employed in the photovoltaics indutry, and continues his involvement in the development of building integrated PV technologies. He is also programme director for the MEng in Electrical and Renewable Energy Systems and is the Renewable Energy Systems Technology MSc project module coordinator. He is also Deputy Director of the Midlands Energy Graduate School.

Expertise
Applications of advanced control techniques
Applications of Systems Engineering
Energy Conservation and Sustainability
Energy use in the Built Environment
Human Factors
Methods of surface and thin film analysis
Modelling and Simulation (including virtual/synthetic environments)
Renewable Energy Systems
Sensors
Solar Energy Engineering
Solar thermal systems
solar thermal power
Surface analysis techniques for thin film characterization
Thin film photovoltaics
Sensor networks

Keywords
Renewable energy
Photovoltaic characterisation
Energy Rating
energy modelling
buildings

Following completion of his BSc(Hons) in Materials Technology, Dr Rowley obtained his PhD in metal oxide thin film technology from Cambridge Univerity. He subsequently worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the National Research Council of Canada. Following a period working at the Photovoltaics Special Research Centre, UNSW Australia, he returned to the UK to take up a position at BP Solar as global solar projects coordinator. In 2000 he arrived at CREST, and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2008.

In recent years, funding for Dr. Rowley's work has been provided by EPSRC, ESF, EMDA, JISC and the Carbon Trust. In addition, his industrial research has been supported by various companies, including Alactel Lucent's Bell Labs in the USA.

Dr Rowley is a qualified teacher, and acts as external examinar for Dundalk Institute of Technology, and for Coventry University. He is a member of the Energy Institute, and a committee member of their East Midlands Regional Chapter.

Dr Rowley's research spans materials science, building physics and pedagogy. He currently supervises the following researchers:

• Laurence Steijger. Bringing many years experience in control and production engineering to the team, Laurence is a chartered CREST research engineer sponsored by EMRE Ltd and SEDC working on domestic energy systems analysis and heat pump modelling/testing. He also has a particular interest in building integrated seasonal thermal energy storage systems, and is closely involved in case-study evaluation of a new £1M zero carbon social housing development in Derby.
• Nick Doylend. Nick comes from a commercial building physics background and is a CREST Research Engineer working on through-life risk analysis of low-carbon new build and refurbished commercial buildings. His work is sponsored by the Sustainable Contstruction I-Net and SEDC, and he is  involved in the case study evaluation of the I-Hub, a new 7,500m2 innovation centre in Daventry, UK.
• Ali Abbas. Working in partnership with the Loughborough Materials Research School, Ali's PhD work involves high resolution  characterisation of PV materials, with a focus on CdTe systems. He currently works closely with MSOLV Ltd, on a TSB-funded project to improve interconnect  processes for CdTE PV cells.
• Philip Leicester. With many years experience in software design and IT services, Philip's PhD focuses on the techno-social analysis of community energy initiatives, with a focus on system benchmarking and modelling.
• Adam Thirkill. Adam is a PhD researcher working on field evaluation of PV, solar thermal and air source heat pump systems. He works closely with industry and government to help optimise system performance  and investmern risk appraisal.

Past Students
Some of the students Dr Rowley has supervised in the past include Mike Cloutier (analysis of renewable energy as a means of providing clean water in sub-saharan Africa); Steve Wood (techno-economic analysio of biomass CHP in community housing) and Oliver Moreton (biomass CHP for energy and CO2 provision in commerical glasshouses).

Dr Rowley is a qualified teacher, and has many years experience of teaching at all levels. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and has in the past led a number of innovative teaching and learning projects, including CRESTDL, the world's leading distance learning programme in advanced renewable energy training.

In addition to many tailored indistrial training seminar programmes, his current teaching activies include:

Undergraduate
Part B
ELB012 Renewable Energy Laboratory (Responsible examiner)

Part D
ELD543 Biomass 2

Postgraduate
ELP043/ELP643 Biomass 2
ELP045/645 REST MSc Major Project (responsible examiner)
CVP031 Sustainability in the Built Environment

Projects
Dr Rowley typically supervises up to 10 MEng/Beng and MSc projects each year.