Looking out over the rows and rows of solar panels that line the roof of the Tecumseh Arena, Frank Iakovidis sees a lot of untapped potential.

While it’s true the more than 2,000 panels there provide almost 600 megawatt hours of electricity to the generating grid, the master’s student of engineering thinks there’s a whole lot more energy to be had, if he could only find a way to cool them down in the summer and prevent snow from building up on them during the winter.

“We actually need to find a way to cool the panel because if it gets too hot, its efficiency decreases,” said Iakovidis, who is researching potential solutions to the problem under the direction of mechanical, automotive and materials engineering professor David Ting. The pair received a $50,000 grant to study the issue from the Ontario Centres of Excellence and the Essex Energy Corporation.

Iakovidis, who earned an undergraduate degree from Cleveland State University, said on average, solar panels absorb about 15 percent of the sun’s energy. The other 85 percent is dissipated as heat. That wasted energy either goes back in to the ambient air around it, or heats up the panel, resulting in a significant amount of the absorbed radiation by the cells not getting converted into electricity.

“The wind cools it down by blowing away hot air, but you can’t always rely on the wind to be blowing,” he said.

Iakovidis and Dr. Ting are trying to enhance the panels’ performance during the solar-intensive summer days by using a combination of passive and active cooling. They are currently modelling some of those methods in the wind tunnel in Essex Hall.

During the winter, snow accumulates on the panels, eliminating their ability to absorb energy. The researchers are looking for ways to recirculate some of the energy the system has absorbed back through the panels to melt that snow. Iakovidis believes by solving these issues, a very critical renewable energy technology will become more economical, expanding its market potential.

“This is cutting edge research,” he said. “I believe renewable energy is the future. There are no carbon emissions from solar panels and there’s no noise issues like there are with wind turbines. It’s free energy.”