#solarenergyengineering

November has been one of the most busiest month so far in the program, with running of 3 projects in different courses. One course that ended was 'Dynamic Simulation of Energy Systems', a part of this course was to understand functioning of the simulation tool 'Trnsys'. We had to design and simulate an energy system and also design and test a control strategy for the energy system designed in the first part. A word of advice if you are taking this course, to start early and not delay working on your project. Trnsys is not the most user friendly software you will come across, you will have several glitches while simulating and takes time to correct it.

Two new courses started in November 'Solar Thermal Power' and 'Project Course', I have been awaiting for these two courses since the beginning of this semester. We had an amazing guest lecture for three days by Pedro Horta on 'Concentrating Solar Technology'. Pedro is a Head of a Group working on 'Thermal Industrial Processes and Systems' at Fraunhofer ISE , Germany. Pedro's series of lectures were very interesting and informative, they were focused on physics involved in concentrators which can be applied to both thermal and photovoltaic systems, I recommend you not to miss them.

In the project course, my group is involved with a project in designing a photovoltaic system for an indoor football field 'BSM Arena' in Borlänge. So far it has been quite interesting talking to the customers, collecting data from companies and designing in PVSyst.

Apart from courses, the weather in Borlänge has been unusually warm while its snowing in south of Sweden. I hope it snows soon and it will be a white christmas.

It was another study visit we had this month to Glava energy center in Sweden. We first visited SWEMODULE factory which is a Swedish manufacturing company that produce solar photovoltaic panels. It was quite interesting to see the production processes in real and get an inside feel of working environment within a factory. One of our masters student studying solar energy engineering at dalarna university did his internship earlier this summer at Glava research center.

The were several automated robots for precise movement of the module from one work station to another.

There several photovoltaic modules being tested there, also different types of mounting.

We had an amazing study visit to Institute For Energy Technology (IFE) Norway this month. IFE is an international research organisation focussing on energy and nuclear technology since 1948 when it was founded. We visited several of the research facilities and laboratories.

We had a introduction seminar about a little history on how IFE started, current research facilities in Norway and other parts of the world and also got introduce to state of the art research that is currently going on in the research institute.

This was the solar research centre where new grade silicons were being tested.

We also had a pHD researcher who took us around the chemistry facility and showed us testing of batteries.

We then had a visit to the thermal plant in Norway which produced power for district heating.

One of the courses in spring is “Design of Passive Solar” as a part of this course you would need to do a design project. Designing a grid connected PV system and a Hybrid system. There is an option to do between different projects provided by the course instructor or to choose your own project, we opted to do our own project. A colleague of mine knew a Swedish family who were looking to install solar panels on roof to meet their energy demand. We approached them asking if they were willing to allow us to help them design and they were happy to let us design the PV system for their house. Last week my teammates and I went to their house in Falun and took the necessary measurement and data.

This is the house we are working on.

One of the most interesting course you will get to study here at Dalarna University. It is two weeks of super intensive course containing lectures, seminars, presentations and laboratories. Just a hint to how intensive the course is and not to scare you though, be prepared to attend the lecture from morning 8 am to evening 8 pm. 

What makes the course so special is the guest lectures from different professors from many european universities. They come and share knowledge in their area of specialisation. This year we had Thomas Walter from University of Ulm who came and taught us about Device Physics and Thermodynamics of a PV Cell. Then we had Anthony Pereira CEO of a multi-national company, he shared his on site experiences about BIPV, BAPV and also the challenges he and his colleagues face while installing a PV Systems on skyscrapers. We also had Jussi Maunuksela from Finland who talked about Performance Evaluation of a PV System. Last but not the least we had our very own programme co-ordinator Frank Fielder teachings us about PV Systems.

Time and again we get reminded of how international the programme is. We had about 20 guest students from University of Ulm who came and joined us for these two weeks to study about photovoltaics.

It was pleasure to host the international food night the first day of the course at locus. 

We had some delicious traditional food made by our colleagues.

Meanwhile one of the student played some live music with a traditional arabic instrument which was spectacular.

The outcome of this course for me was not only that I gained some knowledge in photovoltaics but it was a grate opportunity to meet people who shared common interest in solar technology.  

This will be one of the first courses you will attend if you are starting your Masters in Solar Energy Engineering. 

This course is taken by Mats Rönnelid. One of the most humorous and easily approachable professors you will come across at DU. I could not think of any other professor to start this programme and the course, he has immense knowledge in the field of solar energy.

picture source: du.se

He is also the one who scares you by giving your first assignment the very first day mostly a poster presentation. So be prepared. :)

The lectures were interesting and this was my first experience of having lecture continuously for 3 to 4 hours of the same course. It was hard to concentrate at first but I got used to it in a couple of days and one of the amazing thing about studying at DU is that the lectures are live streamed and recorded, so you can always go back to lecture again when you think you missed something during  the lecture or while preparing for your exam.

After a week into the course, we have a small min-conference in the class where everyone presents their poster on “Energy situation in your home country”. It was so interesting to see the different energy scenarios in different parts of the globe and how it is influenced by various factors. 

I believe the reason why this programme is so international is not only because you get to study with your colleagues who are from different parts of the earth but also because you get to learn so many things about their culture and there way of living.

Before I forget, you will get your hands on experience of your first laboratory in this course.