Dr Kok Keong Chong

As a UK chartered engineer, Chong Kok-Keong has been working in concentrating solar power technologies for more than 20 years, with over 130 publications and a h-index of 30. He has been a project leader for numerous research grants, and has received some of the highest recognitions for his R&D achievements, including The Outstanding Young Malaysian award from JCI, the Science and Technology Award from MTSF, and being named a Fellow of the Academy of Science in Malaysia. His research has also been featured in the main exhibition hall of the Malaysian Pavilion World Exposition in 2017, under the theme of 'Future Energy'.

His innovation, the Dense-Array Concentrator Photovoltaic (DACPV) system is a cost-effective solar power generation solution capable of producing both electricity and thermal energy from sunlight simultaneously. The DACPV system incorporates novel optical technology and high-performance multi-junction solar cells (MJSCs), enabling it to generate more electricity compared to a flat-plate photovoltaic (PV) module of the same size. This innovative design utilizes computer-generated geometry of non-imaging dish concentrator (NIDC), which focuses sunlight uniformly onto a rectangular spot at the receiver. Additionally, the DACPV system is equipped with lightweight NIDC and precise sun-tracking capability, allowing it to capture maximum solar energy throughout the day, with the MJSCs at the receiver convert the focused sunlight to electricity with efficiency of 40%.