MSc Renewable Energy & Decarbonisation Technologies

In this class you'll explore key economic issues at the heart of topical energy questions – building on the University’s outstanding reputation as a centre of excellence in energy technology and policy. The class covers the objectives of energy policy; private and social perspectives on energy supply and demand; the special case of regulation of energy markets; the use of economic models in energy analysis; the economics of oil and gas activity and links between energy use and the energy sector and an economy.

This class will provide an understanding of the principles of wind turbine power generation with attention to the wind resource, rotor aerodynamics, structural design, power conversion and control.

It will also examine the socio-economic issues relating to wind power and provide an underpinning in distributed energy resources including small scale generation, energy storage and demand management and their integration and management within power networks.

This module offers understanding of the solar energy industries including resources, technologies, practical implementation, development, barriers, environmental and sustainable issues. They students will gain familiarity with the techniques required to analyse common solar energy systems that comprise PV system and to enable them to carry out analysis and design of these components. Students will carry out a design project to enhance their intellectual ability and transferable skills.

This module offers understanding of how current and future energy storage systems operate and how these can be used to deal with the variable nature of the demand and supply on the grid in particular due to the intermittent nature of renewable electrical energy sources. The students will gain familiarity with different energy storage technologies. A case study of battery-based system will be carried out to learn how to design these components.

This module will enable you to understand the principles and techniques of Systems Engineering. You will learn how to apply systems engineering techniques in engineering contexts, taking into account a range of regulatory requirements as well as commercial and industrial constraints.

You'll develop the skills to address global challenges in sustainable product development and the study of environmental legislation.

This module aims to provide you with:

• principles and methodologies to analyse and evaluate the marine renewable energy sources potential
• principles and methodologies to analyse and compare the main offshore wind, wave, and tidal systems available

This module covers:

• introduction to marine renewable energy systems: context, trends, basic concepts
• offshore wind energy resource characterisation and analysis
• wave energy resource characterisation and analysis
• tidal energy resource characterisation and analysis
• marine Renewable Energy Systems economics: an introduction
• offshore wind turbines: main technologies and modelling approaches
• wave energy converters: main technologies and modelling approaches

At the end of this module you'll be able to:

• analyse the potential of the main marine renewable energy sources (offshore wind, wave, and tidal)
• classify and compare, from a techno-economic point of view, the main offshore wind, wave, and tidal energy systems
• propose a preliminary design of a marine renewable energy system for a given geographical area
• discuss on the main challenges of the experimental testing of marine renewable energy systems
• demonstrate an awareness of the wider, multidisciplinary context for marine renewable energy devices

Assessment and feedback are in the form of:

• quick quizzes for formative feedback
• a class test, mid-way through the module, weighting 40% of the final module mark
• an exam, at the end of the module, weighting 60% of the final module mark

This class highlights the role of technology in business strategy for maintaining market competitiveness.

The aim of this class is to provide you with support for your general academic and professional development.

You'll undertake an advanced investigation of an electronic or electrical engineering topic of your choice, to enhance your learning, and develop presentation and communication skills.

The energy decarbonisation from conventional resources to renewable enable resources brings new challenges such as interfacing, reliability, stability, security of supply, metering, pricing, communication, protection, coordination and distribution. This course aim is to provide an introduction to the key technologies of energy decarbonisation in electrical networks, transportation (Electrical vehicle, trains, and aerospace) and Oil and Gas industry.

Modern energy conversion systems rely on the integration of a range of technologies including power electronics, electromechanical actuators and energy storage elements. This class will build knowledge of power electronics converters and show their application to modern energy conversion systems.

This module fully educates you on the operational challenges and solutions facing offshore wind operators. This will be approached both in terms of Operation & Maintenance planning for project development and final investment decision; post-warranty asset transfer; day-to-day operational decisions; and finally repowering and life extension. You'll be able to identify key operational choices and how these manifest in operational metrics (such as availability, OPEX, yield targets). Post-subsidy operation for offshore wind is also discussed.

This class, run by the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, provides an introduction to the methods used to predict environmental impacts, and evaluates how these may be used to integrate environmental factors into decisions. The class draws principally on the UK planning context of environmental impact assessment of individual projects (project EIA), but also takes account of EIA experience in other countries and international organisations. Students are also introduced to key principles of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA).

The class, run by the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, introduces circular economy as a systems-based concept in which production is designed to be restorative and resilient, while waste is designed out of the system. Circular economy is thus featured as a reaction to the conventional dispensation of the linear ‘make-use-dispose’ economy, and as a framework for the development and management of a sustainable, ‘waste-as-a-resource’ economic system. The implications of the concept for research, policy and industrial practice are also explored as these relate to innovation and knowledge production; social trends and consumer behaviour; conservation and sustainable use of energy and material resources; climate change and environmental sustainability; and design of business models for green enterprise development and for sustainable growth and employment generation.

This module aims to provide students with knowledge and understanding of the key concepts for the Design for Industry 4 and Smart Products, current practices, tools and processes, and possible future development routes.

The module covers the current and latest state-of-the-art in Design for Industry 4 and Smart Products, including the identification of challenges and areas requiring further development in terms of research and technology innovation, product and service development, supplier management, production, routes to market, delivery, in service, maintenance, repair, remanufacture and reuse, and business plan development and management aspects. It also explores the latest initiatives worldwide that tie with Design for Industry 4 and Smart products (Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Cyber-Physical Systems, Cloud Manufacturing, Big Data analytics and Edge Analytics, Additive Manufacturing for Smart Products, IIoT Security aspects) and Through-Life Engineering and Through-Life Engineering Services (TES) concepts.

At the end of this module students will be able to:

• Formulate an overview of the tools, processes and best practice currently employed in Design for Industry 4 and Smart Products
• Understand initiatives currently undertaken worldwide for the future development of Design for Industry 4 and Smart Products, and assess how proposals for future development given would affect the current processes.
• Assessment and feedback is in the form of classwork (100%) including a group presentation and a report.

This class covers organisational and regulatory aspects of waste management practice in the UK: legislation, composition of domestic and industrial wastes, storage, collection, reception, and disposal of solid wastes, clinical wastes, sewage sludge disposal, recycling and recovery.

The aim of this module is to enable students to appreciate the principles of control and protection of present-day and future electrical systems including:
The steady-state and dynamic analysis of electrical systems under normal, transient and fault conditions.

Grid-codes and other legislation that impacts upon the functional requirements of protection systems, generation and HVDC transmission units.

The main concepts related to the requirements, functions, design and operation of protection schemes for power system transmission and distribution systems.

How HVDC and converter-interfaced generation pose challenges to operation and protection system design; but also, how their enhanced controllability has great potential to enable new alternative concepts.

The aim of the research project is to provide you with an opportunity to bring your knowledge and skills together and deploy them in a significant practical investigation, using relevant engineering literature, and where relevant, initial experiments or simulations.