News: Dr. Michael Ross

News Alert:

The Northern Energy Innovation research program at Yukon University has received $5.5M to assess the realities, challenges, and barriers of clean energy options in a northern context. Dr. Michael Ross, NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Northern Energy Innovation (NEI), and his team, will use this funding over the next seven years to focus on carbon capture and storage, offshore and other renewable technologies in northern Canada. 

Photo caption: Vuntut Gwitchin Government and YukonU train Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation citizens on community energy systems in Old Crow.

This federal funding was secured through two academic partnerships: 

WHITEHORSE, YT— Yukon University’s Northern Energy Innovation (NEI) research program placed third in the IEEE Electrical and Computer Engineering Capstone Competition for its work on the Arviat Power System Impact Study in Nunavut. NEI is one of seven winners to be acknowledged for their exceptional contribution in the jurisdiction of Northern Alberta and all three territories. 

WHITEHORSE— As part of its partnership with Nergica, Yukon Research Centre at Yukon College participated for the first time in an intern exchange. Nergica hosted Yukon College student and research assistant Noah Sternbergh for four weeks in Quebec, while Camille St-Arneault, an intern with Nergica and student at Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles was hosted by the Northern Energy Innovation (NEI) team at Yukon Coll

WHITEHORSE—How can a solar energy system remain stable in a place where the sun shines all day during the summer and barely rises above the horizon in winter? This is the question a team of young researchers at Yukon College have sought to answer over the past few months.

The team—led by Michael Ross, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Industrial Research Chair in Northern Energy Innovation—is made up of nine students and early career professionals in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and physics. Since January they have been collaborating on a Northern Energy Innovation Project that explores how renewable energy sources can be integrated into northern communities.

Yukon College has been awarded an Industrial Research Chair for Colleges in Northern Energy Innovation from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). This position is supported by electricity companies in all three Canadian territories to solve challenges faced by the northern energy industry.

The Northern Energy Innovation Chair, Dr. Michael Ross will work closely with a pan-territorial consortium comprised of ATCO Electric, Northwest Territories Power Corporation, Qulliq Energy Corporation Nunavut, and Yukon Energy Corporation. These companies have matched NSERC’s one million dollar contribution by each committing $50,000 per year over the next five years.

Yukon College has been awarded an Industrial Research Chair in Northern Energy Innovation from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to solve issues unique to the electrical energy industry in Canada’s North.

Over the next five years, the Chair will work with the electrical energy industry in all three territories to develop independent applied research projects, while building the knowledge economy across the North through our northern colleges.

Learn more about how this position aims to achieve the highest level of efficiency, reliability, cost reduction, and enhanced environmental stewardship standards in the northern energy industry through applied research and innovation.