About the Course

Overview

This MSc in Renewable Energy Engineering is an advanced Masters course in the rapidly expanding area of renewable energy engineering. The course is aimed at students wishing to develop critical understanding of the significant changes afoot in the energy industry due to the development and integration of wind, marine, biomass and solar technologies. The course will provide graduates of a calibre capable of developing and implementing creative solutions to the problems encountered in renewable energy capture, conversion, storage and management.

The subject specific aims of the course are to provide a practical and theoretical grounding in technologies and wider knowledge and skills relevant to the Renewable Energy sector, for the practicing Engineer as well as Decision-making managers and Policy makers. 

The course aims to equip students with a broad, yet detailed overview over Renewable Energy resources and their exploitation, as well as the socio-economic and environmental impacts of Renewable Energy-related activities.  To do this, the course provides a broad introduction to current energy issues and specialist knowledge and skills to analyse, appraise, or design Renewable Energy systems or equipment.

Course Structure

The MSc Renewable Energy Engineering course structure contains the following modules:

• Semester 1
• Foundations of Energy (M)
• Renewable Energy Technologies (M)

• Economics of Renewable Energy (M)

• Electrical Power Systems (O)
• Heat Transfer and Heat Exchangers (O)

• Computational Fluid Dynamics with Heat Transfer (O)

• Semester 2

• Advanced Renewable Energy Engineering (M)

• Demand Management and Energy Storage (M)

• Environmental Impact Assessment (M)

• Critical Analysis and Research Preparation (M)

• Summer
• Masters Dissertation (M)

(M) Mandatory module, (O) Optional Module

Duration

Normally 1 year, with part-time participation possible, typically over 2 years.

Entry Requirements

A First or Second Class Honours Degree in an engineering discipline or in the physical or chemical sciences. The degree can be from a British or overseas university. Different degrees, together with relevant industrial experience, will be considered.

Employment and Industrial Links

Graduate Destinations

There are excellent prospects for employment in the emerging renewable energy sector, in energy management and in the power industry, both in the UK and overseas, as driven by the long-term requirement to reduce carbon emissions from energy use. Underpinning this growth is a need for engineers to research, design and develop renewable energy converters, energy storage systems and associated components. The course is relevant at international and also at local level, because of the UK’s exceptional resource potential for wind and marine energy. The skills and experience gained by students on this course are also directly relevant to the energy research groups within the University, and the industries they are linked with.

Industrial Project Opportunities

In the MSc dissertation, students either conduct 'in-house' laboratory based projects or are placed in an industrial or commercial setting.

Examples of Dissertation Titles

• Numerical prediction of the fate of CO2 leaked from seabed

• The effect of heterogeneity of fuel/air mixture on auto-ignition characteristics in a HCCI engine

• Building Integration of Luminescent Solar Concentrators (LSC)

• Photovoltaic Systems for Heritage Listed Buildings in Edinburgh

• Understanding network response to widespread micro and small-scale generation in buildings

• Optimisation of Solar Thermal Collector

• Computational modelling of a turbine in a flow channel

Course Industrial Advisory Board

The development of the course is informed by an industrial advisory board comprising delegates from the following companies:

• BP
• Faber Maunsell
• Future Energy Solutions
• Highlands and Islands
  Trust
• Schlumberger
• Scottish Water
• UV NEL

About the Course Director

Dr Tapas Kumar Mallick has been working in the field of solar energy in particular solar photovoltaic concentrators for the last eight years. Dr Mallick carried out research in the area of low concentrating Photovoltaics funded by EPSRC, EU and optical and thermal simulation of PV concentrators of concentration ratios over 100x funded by DTI at University of Warwick. Dr Mallick's research has been internationally recognised as demonstrated by over 28 papers including 7 in learned journals. He is co-author a book chapter and reviewer of Progress in Photovoltaics, Solar Energy, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, The Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. He is a member of the Institute of Physics and of the International Solar Energy Society. Dr Mallick is contributing to the 'Urban Renewables' programme of the Energy JRI at Heriot-Watt University. His current research involves Optical and thermal design, simulation and fabrication of compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) elements for concentrating sunlight in the range 2 - 10x for photovoltaic applications, modelling of high concentrating (in the range of 100x) point focus Fresnel based CPV for power generation and renewable hydrogen from concentrated solar energy.