AMIR NASHED
Address: 23 Carrington Crescent, Eastwood, NSW 2122, Australia
Phone: +61405 979 282 E-mail: nashed.amir@gmail.com
Career Profile
Multi-disciplinary engineer with expertise in renewable energy, electrical engineering, and
water desalination with strong passion for developing sustainable design strategies for cities
and communities
 Ph.D. in solar membrane desalination and Master of Science in Photovoltaic (PV) and
Renewable Energy Engineering with an overall grade of high distinction
 Extensive expertise in designing and modelling PV stand-alone and grid connected
systems, solar thermal water heating systems using photovoltaic/thermal (PVT) and
flat plat collectors, and solar driven water desalination plants including reverse
osmosis (RO) and membrane distillation (MD)
 Substantial work in numerical modelling of heat and mass transfer in MD processes
 Demonstrated excellent problem solving, analytical thinking and communication skills
whilst working as a senior field electrical engineer with a multi-national oil service
company, with >10 successful troubleshooting jobs conducted in less than 1 year
Research Experience
Solar driven membrane distillation modelling and optimization (2015-Current)
The University of New South Wales
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Working as a research associate with the School of Chemical Engineering,
UNSW, to produce several publications on developing control algorithms to
optimize the operation of solar driven MD plants under transient conditions
Co-authored a conference paper and a presentation for the 2015 Euromembrane conference in Aachen, Germany
Working with the solar thermal team, led by Dr Robert Taylor, to apply for several
ARENA and ARC grants to investigate the feasibility of integrating MD modules
with concentrated solar power central receiver plants
High recovery rate solar driven reverse osmosis and membrane distillation plants
for brackish groundwater desalination in Egypt (Ph.D. Thesis) 2010-2014
The University of New South Wales
 Reviewed different desalination processes and solar energy technologies,
including CSP and CPV, and assessed their suitability for decentralized remote
applications considering factors such as life cycle costs (LCC), energy
consumption and reliability
 Developed a novel mathematical model to simulate the complex heat
transfer and mass transfer in a full scale spiral wound MD module
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 Conducted a techno-economic feasibility study on high recovery rate PV driven
RO (PV-RO) plants for brackish GW desalination considering the effect of the
plant capacity factor, solar irradiance, water salinity, and GW depth on the
LCC’s
 Conducted a techno-economic feasibility study on replacing PV modules with PVT
collectors to drive RO plants which included a detailed performance analysis and
optimization of the plant using TRNSYS
 Conducted a techno-economic feasibility study on integrating PV-RO plants with
MD plants driven by flat plate collectors (with thermal storage) to enhance the
recovery rate considering the effect of scaling and evaporation losses from
cooling towers. The study included a detailed annual performance analysis and
optimization of the solar driven MD plant using TRNSYS.
Industrial Experience
Grid Connected PV System Designer 2015- Current (Part-time)
Suntech
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Currently working with Suntech as a PV design engineer for commercial applications
Conducted shading analysis, 3D modelling using SketchUp, drawing single line
diagrams and module layouts using AutoCAD, mounting selection, inverter
sizing, PV system modelling using PVsyst, and DC/AC protection design for 6
projects so far with average array size of 200 KWp
Developed several market analysis reports on several competing products
Senior Field and Workshop Engineer (2006 - 2008)
Weatherford
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Worked with WEATHERFORD, a multi-national oil service company, in the
Electrical Submersible Pumps/Horizontal Pumping System (ESP/HPS) department
The job involved testing and commissioning various electrical equipment e.g.
induction motors, transformers, cables, variable speed drives and
instrumentation
Demonstrated team work and leadership skills by leading a team of
engineers/technicians to commission the ESP/HPS units in the MENA region;
Superior communications skills in a multi-national environment by being the point
of communication with the client, including managers and engineers from
different disciplines in various countries;
High level of problem solving skills and ability to work under pressure by
conducting more than 10 successful ESP troubleshooting jobs in less than 1
year;
System approach required for the successful troubleshooting of ESP units given
the multi-disciplinary nature of their operation including electrical, mechanical and
petroleum engineering;
High level of reliability and competency by being promoted from Junior to Senior
Field Engineer just after 3 months of being hired; and
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High level of innovation and pro-activity by developing an Excel spreadsheet to
predict the performance of the ESP unit to assist field engineers in troubleshooting
operation. The spreadsheet was commended by my field supervisor and was sent
to the engineering department in the USA for assessment.
Other Experience
Academic Tutor (2010-Current)
The University of New South Wales
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Tutored Grid Connected PV Systems, Low Energy Building Design, Engineering
Research Skills, and Energy Efficiency courses at the University of New South
Wales for classes comprising of 20 to 30 undergraduate and postgraduate
students
Developed all tutorial material for the Engineering Research Skills course
Working as a teaching assistant to supervise the marking of assignments and
final exams
Demonstrated superior communication skills by adopting an interactive approach
in tutoring through constantly engaging the students with questions and rewarding
them for answering
Received a positive feedback from 95% of the students, estimated through a
survey, on the effectiveness of my teaching
Demonstrated high level of attention to detail in helping the course coordinator
for the Grid Connected PV in identifying and correcting errors in the tutorial
questions and in the AS/NZS 5033 standard
Attended several seminar and workshops on developing teaching skills
Publications
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Nashed, A., Sproul, A. B., and Leslie, G. 2014 ‘Water Resources and the Potential
of Brackish Groundwater Extraction in Egypt: A Review’ Journal of Water Supply:
Research and technology-AQUA, vol 63, no. 6, pp. 399-428.
Lian, B., Nashed, A., Sproul, A., Chen, V., Wang, Y. & Leslie, G. 2015 ‘Optimisation
of solar powered membrane distillation system using CFD and TRNSYS coupled
model’, APCChE Congress incorporating Chemeca, Melbourne, 27 Sep- 01 Oct
Nashed, A., Sproul, A. B., and Leslie, G. 2015 ‘Economic feasibility of photovoltaic
vs photovoltaic/thermal driven high recovery rate reverse osmosis plants for
brackish groundwater desalination: Case study Egypt ’ (to be submitted to journal
of Desalination)
Nashed, A., Winter, D., Sproul, A. B., and Leslie, G. 2015 ‘Modelling of a full scale
permeate gap membrane distillation module’ (to be submitted to journal of
Desalination)
Nashed, A., Schwantes, R., Sproul, A. B., and Leslie, G. 2015 ‘Technoeconomic feasibility of solar driven hybrid reverse osmosis/membrane
distillation plants for high recovery rate brackish water desalination’ (to be
submitted to journal of Desalination)
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Education
Ph.D. in Solar Driven Water Desalination (2010-2014)
The University of New South Wales
Thesis title: “High recovery rate solar driven reverse osmosis and membrane distillation
plants for brackish groundwater desalination in Egypt”
Supervisors: A. Prof. Alistair Sproul and Prof. Greg Leslie
Master of Science in Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering (2009)
The University of New South Wales
 Achieved a high distinction average
 Completed relevant courses including Grid Connected PV, Stand Alone PV, Energy
Efficiency, Low Energy Buildings design, Project Management and Engineering
Decision Making
 Achieved the best project design in the Grid Connected PV course
Bachelor Degree in Energy Systems and Automatic Control (2001-2006)
 Achieved a high distinction average with honours
Conferences Attended
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Poster presentation in the 6th IWA Membrane Technology Conference in Aachen,
Germany (2011)
Oral presentation in the 2nd Pacific Rim Energy and Sustainability Conference in
Hiroshima, Japan (2013)
Computer Skills
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TRNSYS Simulation Tool
PVSYST Photovoltaic systems design program
MATLAB & Simulink
ECOTECT and Energy+ Low energy building design programs
Experience in working with high performance computing clusters
AutoCAD
ROSA Reverse Osmosis Design Tool
Professional Development
 Attended the “Reverse Osmosis Design and Operation” course, presented by the
National Centre of Excellence in Desalination (2013)
 Joined the solar desalination team in the Fraunhofer ISE institute for 3 months as a
guest scientist (2011)
 Travelled to Cyprus with the Fraunhofer ISE team to assist in commissioning a PV
driven RO seawater (SWRO) desalination plant where I helped the team in selecting
the best operating parameters for the RO modules (2011)
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Achievements & Award
 Meeting the current academic requirement for standing as a professional electrical
engineer in Australia as assessed by Engineers Australia (2014)
 Received the "University International Postgraduate Award" scholarship (UIPA) for
international students covering 3.5 years of tuition fees of the PhD degree with a living
allowance valued at 22,500 AUD per year (2009)
 Winner of the “Steve Robinson” memorial Prize for best performance in the advanced
solar cells course taken during my master’s degree (2009)
Referees
A. Prof Alistair Sproul (Supervisor)
School of Photovoltaic and Renewable
Energy Engineering
The University of New South Wales
Ted Spooner (Grid Connected PV
Course Coordinator)
School of Electrical Engineering
The University of New South Wales
Prof. Greg Leslie (Supervisor)
School of Chemical Engineering
The University of New South Wales
Eric Koh (Manager)
Suntech
George Nash (Field Manager)
Weatherford
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