This year our postgraduate course Solar Thermal Energy Systems (STES) took on a new and exciting format we hope to expand upon and build ongoing international collaboration. Professor Craig McGregor, Research Group Director (STERG) and Solar Thermal Spoke Grant holder together with Professor Johannes Koke from the Lingen campus of Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, Germany, successfully [...]
After proposing the research topic “Design, Build and Test a Quadcopter with a Novel Configuration for Endurance Flights” for a fifth year, Dr Willie Smit finally found an interested student. Waldo Wessels, who since he received a soldering iron from his grandfather in Grade 1 loves designing and building. This inspired him to become an [...]
Stan Rietveld, from Eindhoven University in the Netherlands, arrived in Stellenbosch on June 8. As part of the two year Masters programme at Eindhoven University, students undertake an internship in industry or coursework at another university. On recommendation of his friends, Stan applied to Stellenbosch University. Stan joined STERG and was supervised by Prof Craig [...]
Dr. Johannes Pretorius, Prof. Jaap Hoffmann and Mr. Wian Strydom recently attended the 16th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics (HEFAT-ATE’22). The conference focusses on the fundamentals of heat transfer, fluid mechanic and thermodynamics while having a broad scope. The conference took place virtually, over three days (8 – 10 August), where [...]
Prof Johan van der Spuy and Dr Thomas Meyer (PhD student 2021) recently attended the ASME TurboEXPO 2022 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. During the conference, Prof van der Spuy presented three papers and a tutorial session on behalf of his students (Mr Francois Boshoff, Chaz Fenner and Martin Strümpher) and a number of other co-authors (Prof [...]
Newly elected SolarPaces Task II - National coordinator for South Africa, Prof Craig McGregor. The SolarPaces (Solar Power and Chemical Energy Systems) conference will be held in Alberquerque, New Mexico, 26 - 30 September 2022. The conference offers a scientific and technical program that provides industry, research, political and financing stakeholders and experts from all [...]
The 6th Southern African Solar Energy Conference (SASEC) took place from the 25th to the 27th November 2019, at the idyllic Mpekweni Beach Resort in the Eastern Cape. SASEC focuses on research, development and deployment of both solar thermal and solar photovoltaic energy technologies. A group of STERG members attended the conference, hosted this year [...]
The Solar Thermal Energy Research Group (STERG) hosted their sixth postgraduate research symposium on the 18th and 19th July 2019, at the Engineering Knowledge Centre, Stellenbosch University. The event took place in conjunction with the 10th Annual Renewable Energy Postgraduate Symposium (REPS), hosted by the Centre For Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies (CRSES). Delegates [...]
