Lightning Re-strike: UC soaring 40 metres into the sky

The Minister of Research, Science and Technology, Hon Dr Wayne Mapp, and visitors will be dazzled with an impressive live experiment involving the longest man-made High Voltage plasma path measuring 40 meters into the sky at the University of Canterbury's EPECentre (Electric Power Engineering Centre) 2010 R&D Expo, titled "Lightning Re-Strike!"

"This is going to be very exciting," said EPECentre Manager Joseph Lawrence. "It's a world first and unofficially a world record, and signifies the wide range and variety of original electric power innovations brewing at the University with the underpinning of the EPECentre."

The Expo, to be held on Thursday 30 September at the University, also marks the official opening of the EPECentre's new premises in the College of Engineering's Electrical and Computer Engineering wing, including the new Arrillaga Room.

The EPECentre Expo will also showcase exhibits in renewable energy, High Voltage sounds & sculptures, Power Quality, LED lighting, Joule Heating, Power Transformers and electric vehicles.

"We have world-class research underway at the University in the Power Engineering area by our students and staff enabled through industry support for the EPECentre," said Mr Lawrence.

"For example, we are developing a new type of LED lighting system at the EPECentre that can mimic the full colour spectrum, can be retrofitted to existing fittings, and provides energy savings. This EPECentre innovation is generating significant interest from the commercial sector. LED is a very impressive technology that is undoubtedly the way of the future."

The EPECentre was formed eight years ago as a Centre of Excellence for Electric Power Engineering with operations in education, research and industry-academia interaction. The Centre's main focus in 2002 was to increase the number and quality of power engineers entering industry. Back then, only around 10 per cent of students were specializing in power engineering and now with the impact of EPECentre, over 60 percent are flowing into the electricity industry.

"We have been described as being an exemplar for our research collaborations and relationships with industry, we meet the needs of the industry and our graduates get the relevant and required skills - now
the EPECentre has its own base of operations that creates a physical hub for power engineering excellence in NZ," said Mr Lawrence. "It marks our success as a Centre. Other countries in the world look to us to try and replicate our successful model, having over 35 industry partners and a network of more than 700 industry contacts."

The opening of the Arrillaga Room in the EPECentre's new premises commemorates the huge impact that Professor Jos Arrillaga (1934-2010) had on UC and the EPECentre. He was a staff member in the Electrical Engineering for more than 30 years where he was internationally recognised as a leader in the power engineering field and UC's first professor of power engineering.

"There is massive growth in this industry globally with electricity usage on the rise and there is an environmentally-conscious demand for new electric power technology to make things more efficient, reliable and resilient," said Mr Lawrence.

"The recent earthquake also illustrated how important electricity is and how much we take it for granted - in fact, 21st Century society cannot function without electricity."