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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Engineering : Postgrad (School of Engineering)

Postgraduate Course: Solar Energy & Photovoltaic Systems (MSc) (PGEE11107)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Engineering CollegeCollege of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits10 ECTS Credits5
SummaryThis course presents and assesses the fundamentals of solar energy conversion. It starts with a discussion of the resource and the mechanisms of its propagation through the atmosphere up to the point of conversion. It then discusses the various conversion processes (solar heating/cooling, concentrated thermal power generation and the photovoltaic phenomenon). The state-of-the-art of each of these technologies is then discussed, including their market and economic aspects.

The course includes a project, for which the students working in groups, undertake the design and dimensioning of a solar energy conversion system. Their results are submitted as a group report and presented at a poster session during the last lecture of the term.
Course description Topics covered:

- The sun and the solar spectrum
- Effects of Earth's atmosphere, orbit and rotation on insolation
- Solar water heating systems
- Solar space heating and cooling
- Solar thermal power generation
- Semiconductors for photovoltaics
- Power electronics for photovoltaics
- Grid-connected PV systems
- Network integration aspects
- Isolated PV systems
- Solar energy storage
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2022/23, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  None
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 22, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 6, Formative Assessment Hours 1, Summative Assessment Hours 4, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 65 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Coursework (100%) Group report and poster.
Feedback Formative feedback is given in the form of an exam-level question answered by the students during a tutorial session. The solution is then discussed, indicating the common errors made by students and presenting a marking template for the students to self- or peer-mark.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Understand the nature of the solar energy resource
  2. Appreciate the mechanisms and the technologies of solar energy conversion including passive and active solar heating, concentrated solar thermal power generation and photovoltaics
  3. Appreciate the market dynamics and the economics of solar energy
  4. Understand the differences between grid-connected vs. isolated systems and the implications of energy storage
  5. Complete the dimensioning and system design for a solar thermal and/or photovoltaic array
Reading List
Main textbook:
Kalogirou, S. A. Solar Energy Engineering: Processes and Systems, Academic Press, 2009, ISBN-10: 0123745012

Some of the material taught is based on journal papers to be handed out by the Course Organiser.

Additional textbooks:
Messenger, R. A., Ventre, J., Photovoltaic Systems Engineering, 2nd ed., CRC Press, 2003, ISBN-10: 0849317932

Foster, R., Ghassemi, M., Cota, A., Solar Energy: Renewable Energy and the Environment, CRC Press, 2009, ISBN-10: 1420075667

Goswami, D. Y., Kreith, F., Kreider, J. F., Principles of Solar Engineering, CRC Press, 2000, ISBN-10: 1560327146

Boyle, G. Renewable Energy, 2nd ed., OUP Oxford, 2004, ISBN-10: 0199261784
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
Additional Class Delivery Information 11 2-hour lectures and 6 tutorials.
KeywordsSolar Energy,Solar Power,Photovoltaics
Contacts
Course organiserDr Aristides Kiprakis
Tel: (0131 6)50 5586
Email:
Course secretaryMrs Megan Inch-Kellingray
Tel: (0131 6)51 7079
Email:
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