Mr Chris Knight

Chris Knight is Group Leader, Engineering; Grids & Energy Efficiency Systems, CSIRO Energy.

EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

BE (Aerospace Engineering), First Class Honours, University of NSW, 1993.

KEY PUBLICATIONS
Journal articles: 9
Conference papers: 10
Book chapters: 2
Books: 1
Reports: 7

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation,

Jan 2008 – present
• Group Leader, Engineering; supervision of Research Engineers, graduate students, visiting scientists, vacation students, and international students.
• Project Manager for ARENA funded Solar Power Ensemble Forecasting project. This is a $1.7M multi-year project with $950k external earnings, focussed on the use technology to combine solar forecasting from multiple sources, including the CSIRO SkyCAM technology into one coherent forecast for grid-connected solar farms.
• Project Manager for ARENA funded Virtual Power Station 2 project. This is a $2.5M multi-year project with $850k external earnings, focussed on the use technology to intelligently link together renewable energy generators and storage, and domestic loads such as air-conditioners, pool pumps, and hot water systems. These energy systems can create a single ‘virtual’ power station that can feed into the electricity grid, increase solar uptake, and improve power quality.
• Project Manager for the ARENA funded Solar Plug and Play project. This was a $2.7M multi-year project with $1.2M external earnings, focussed on the use of short term solar forecasting to co-ordinate loads, storage, and renewable (solar PV) and diesel generation.
• Project Leader for the Power Harvesting for Sensor Networks project. This was a multiyear project initially out of Sensor and Sensor Networks (SSN) theme (ICT Division) and then from the Transformational Capability Platform TCP04. I was successful in seeking ongoing funding amounting to 7.5FTE, a $100k operational budget.
• Project Leader for the Ammonium Nitrate Emulsion power project. This was a full cost recovery + 20% ROR project over 2 years with Orica Mining Services that had an income of $230k. Initially hosted in TCP04 and then in the Minerals Down Under Flagship.
• Developed a number of local and international collaborations projects with Dr. Igor Paprotny (University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Illinois, Chicago), Dr. Iain Anderson (University of Auckland), and Dr. Erich Kisi (University of Newcastle).
• Conducted and published research across thermal and vibration energy harvesting, solar PV, solar thermal energy storage, and microbial fuel cells for power generation.
• Author (H-Index 12) of numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers, book chapters, and a book.
• Presented aspects of this work at 4 international and 3 local conferences.