BSc/MEng Renewable Energy

Year 1

First term modules concentrate on developing your IT and mathematical skills and address the diverse range of renewable energy sources, their extents and exploitation methods in detail. In the second term you’ll study the physical and engineering sciences governing both natural processes and power conversion technology.

Year 2

Second year modules strike a balance between training in the physical sciences and technology, and developing your capability in the economic, legal and management aspects. In the summer vacation you’ll carry out a minimum six week industrial placement, for which you will usually be paid.

Year 3

Third year modules are designed to build on the previous two years to enable study of specialist areas in order to gain deep knowledge, understanding and ability. You’ll choose from a range of optional modules which have been arranged so that you can select studies of a more technical nature or from a broader management track, or you can mix-and-match according to your preferences. For technically orientated modules a theme of resource assessment, power conversion design, performance monitoring and economic appraisal recurs. The remaining modules consider the more generic issues that span all the technologies or enhance your knowledge of more policy related elements of the discipline. Throughout the third year you will work on an individual research project in your area of interest, under the supervision of a member of academic staff. Previous projects include:

• Design, manufacture, assembly and installation of a borehole-sized selfrectifying turbine
• Carbon and energy balance for uranium mining
• Performance monitoring of a domestic scale wind turbine
• Thermographic imaging of houses to identify heat loss through inadequate insulation
• Computational fluid dynamics modelling of wind resources for a wind farm in Greece
• Performance testing of an aviation turbojet engine fuelled with methyl ester
• Resource assessment and feasibility study of micro-hydro options for Penponds Mill, Camborne
• Ground-based wind anemometry using SODAR sensors
• Assessment of opportunities for future energy sustainability for the Isles of Scilly
• Establishment of a real-time wave energy/surf prediction model

Through the selection of optional modules, the choice of undergraduate dissertation topic and the choice of vacation placement, you are in control of the content of over half of your final year programme.

Year four (MEng only)

Your fourth year will allow you to develop a much deeper understanding of key renewable energy disciplines. Continuing to build on knowledge and experience gained in the preceding three years you will be pushed to develop greater understanding in the options you choose to pursue, be they more technical studies of wind or wave energy or more advanced policy. A module in professional behaviour and ethics directly relates to the role of the MEng in making you a rounded professional engineer. A project based around an additional industrial placement will allow you to apply yourself and your skills to real problems faced by real companies, while a group design project sees students working together, with all contributing to and taking responsibility for the final output.

Please note all modules are subject to change.