MSc Renewable Energy & Decarbonisation Technologies
| Program start date | Application deadline |
| 2023-09-18 | - |
Program Overview
Why this course?
Our MSc Renewable Energy & Decarbonisation Technologies course aims to provide students with detailed knowledge of the technology required to ensure future energy transition in industry. It will give both a theoretical and practical grounding for future managers and engineers of energy-based projects. Where possible, the final individual project is carried out in industry, providing an opportunity for personal research and giving a deeper insight into particular energy transition future.
This programme will provide a solid basis for future engineers entering the energy transition industries. It will focus on the challenging problems related to industry decarbonisation, state-of-the-art technologies and future technologies that will support this process on a significant scale.
Renewable Energy & Decarbonisation Technologies will provide an opportunity for graduate engineers to develop advanced skills and knowledge in this vital area. The programme aims to equip graduates with the required skills, knowledge and understanding necessary to find employment in the energy sectors, or to undertake research in a specialised energy, decarbonisation-related field.
In addition to developing transferrable skills and preparing graduates for wide-range employment opportunities, the programme will develop critical and analytical problem-solving skills in several specialist areas dealing with the specification, design, investigation, operation and maintenance of future power networks, and sustainable energy systems infrastructure.
Learning outcomes
Studying our Renewable Energy & Decarbonisation Technologies Masters degree you'll:
What you'll study
You'll have two semesters of compulsory and optional classes, followed by a three-month summer research project in your chosen area. There’s the opportunity to carry this out through the department's competitive MSc industrial internships.
The internships are offered in collaboration with selected department industry partners, including oil and gas companies, ScottishPower, Smarter Grid Solutions and SSE. You'll address real-world engineering challenges facing the partner, with site visits, access and provision of relevant technical data and/or facilities provided, along with an industry mentor and academic supervisor.
Facilities
You'll have exclusive access to our extensive computing network and purpose-built teaching spaces, including our outdoor test facility for photovoltaics high voltage laboratory, equipped with the latest technologies including:
You'll have access to the UK’s only high-fidelity control room simulation suite and the PNDC. This is Europe’s first centre dedicated to the development and demonstration of “smart-grid” technologies.
British Council Scholarships for Women in STEM
The British Council has established programmes to support Women and Girls in STEM around the world, designed with a lifecycle approach in mind, from inspiring young girls to stay in STEM to supporting women working in STEM fields reach positions of leadership and network with their peers in their region and the UK. This year, supported by the British Council, the University of Strathclyde is delighted to announce five fully funded scholarships for female students from South East Asia interested in pursuing master’s studies in the fields of: Health and Life Science; Climate Change, Environment & Risk Reduction; Energy Transition; Industry 4.0/Digital Transformation and Disaster-Resilient Infrastructure. This course is one of the University of Strathclyde courses that are eligible for the scholarship.
The five scholarships are on offer for female students from the following countries: Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Each of these scholarships covers full tuition fees, monthly stipends, a return economy class ticket and other costs such as IELTS exam fee, visa application, NHS surcharge and key study materials.
The deadline for applications is 31 March 2023.
Find out more
Program Outline
Course content
You're required to complete a minimum of 180 credits (one compulsory 20 credit module, eight compulsory 10 credit modules, a 60 credit MSc project and two optional 10 credit modules).
Semester 1
Semester 2
Semester 3
Asset Management and Condition Monitoring (10 credits)
This class will present and give an understanding of the economics, trading and pricing of electricity supply and how it is shaped by technical, commercial and regulatory considerations.
It will give you an understanding of power system economics under an environment of multiple suppliers and users, and present the challenges, technologies and value of asset management within an electricity supply industry context. You'll gain a deep appreciation of factors affecting security of supply and how it might be quantified.
Energy Economics (10 credits)
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.
Wind Energy and Distributed Energy Resources 1 (10 credits)
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.
Solar Energy Systems (10 credits)
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.
Energy Storage Systems (10 credits)
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.
Optional Modules
Students should select a 10 credit module from this list:
Systems Engineering Concepts (10 credits)
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.
Sustainable Product Design & Manufacturing (10 credits)
You'll develop the skills to address global challenges in sustainable product development and the study of environmental legislation.
Renewable Marine Energy Systems (10 credits)
This module aims to provide you with:
This module covers:
At the end of this module you'll be able to:
Assessment and feedback are in the form of:
Strategic Technology Management (10 credits)
This class highlights the role of technology in business strategy for maintaining market competitiveness.
Assignment and Professional Studies (20 credits)
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.
Energy Decarbonisation Technologies (10 credits)
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.
Power Electronics Principles (10 credits)
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.
Offshore Wind Farms O&M and Economics (10 credits)
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.
Optional modules
Students should select a 10 credit module from this list:
Environmental Impact Assessment (10 credits)
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).
Circular Economy and Transformations towards Sustainability (10 credits)
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.
Design for Industry 4 and Smart Products (10 credits)
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:
Waste Management and Landfill Design (10 credits)
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.
Control and Protection of Future Networks (10 credits)
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.
Offshore and Pan European Supergrids (10 credits)
This module establishes the case for a massive expansion of DC in transmission systems in order to access diversity of load and generation at a European level. Students will investigate different design strategies for new offshore networks compared to traditional networks in recognition of different risk and cost profiles.
The module also covers the fundamentals of HVDC grid, including multi-level converter topology and configuration, operation, modelling and control of multi-terminal DC grids. This will also include the approach taken to control DC networks to provide support and integration of AC networks, and how an AC network is affected by a high penetration of DC links.
Project in Electrical Energy Transition (60 credits)
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.
Assessment
A variety of assessment techniques are used throughout the course. You'll complete a combination of compulsory and optional modules. Each module has a combination of written assignments, individual and group reports, oral presentations, practical lab work and, where appropriate, an end-of-term exam.
Assessment of the summer research project/internship consists of four elements with individual criteria:
interim report (10%, 1,500 to 3,000 words) –
the purpose of the report is to provide a mechanism for supervisors to provide valuable feedback on the project’s objectives and directionposter presentation (15%) –
a vital skill of an engineer is the ability to describe their work to others and respond to requests for information; the poster presentation is designed to give you an opportunity to practicefinal report (55%) –
this assesses the communications of project objectives and context, accuracy and relevance of background material, description of practical work and results, depth and soundness of discussion and conclusions, level of engineering achievement and the quality of the report’s presentationconduct (20%) –
independent study, project and time management are key features of university learning; the level of your initiative, independent thinking and technical understanding is assessed through project meetings with your supervisor and your written logbooksChat to a student ambassador
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Careers
The course provides the advanced level of knowledge and understanding required for challenging, well paid and exciting careers in the future high growth power and energy sectors.
Employment prospects are excellent, with recent graduates working in power engineering consultancy, global power utilities (generation, supply and distribution), renewable energy sector, Oil&Gas industry and manufacturing. Professional and technical positions are as electrical engineers, power systems specialists, energy transition engineer in future electrification systems such as transportation, Oil&Gas and asset managers in large energy utilities such as Iberdrola, EDF Energy and China State Grid.
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