Overcoming energy transition challenges
Renewable energy increases energy autonomy, while reducing carbon footprints and energy costs for consumers, and is essential for sustainable development and a low-carbon economy.
The future energy landscape will be dominated by renewables and characterized by digitalization, decentralization, and decarbonization. To harness their full potential, renewables must be seamlessly integrated into the electrical grid and energy storage options must be efficient.
Technological advances make it easier to embrace fossil fuel alternatives, increase energy efficiency, and offset difficulties, such as power source availability, power quality issues, and costs. But success in this fast-growing sector largely depends on the readiness and capabilities of qualified workers. It is also a key to success in achieving the United Nations' sustainable development goal of reliable and affordable access to clean energy.
Education and training to reverse the renewable energy skills shortage
The number of kilowatt-hours produced by clean energy sources is on the rise, and the transition to renewable energy is causing a global job shift in the power generation field, changing skills requirements and creating new job opportunities that support and expand the green economy. Current and future workers must have the knowledge and skills necessary to integrate new-energy possibilities into professional decision-making and problem-solving.
However, keeping pace with the fast-changing energy industry is a challenge for today’s educators who must integrate renewable energy production into training programs, especially in technical education. This challenge explains the gap between education system output and industry demand, and why the curriculum itself does not evolve as fast as renewable energy develops.
To support industry growth and reverse the renewable energy skills shortage, schools must attract and retain a steady supply of future workers, and current workers must reskill or upskill to adapt their skill sets for renewable energy production. The quality and quantity of human resources must meet demand, ensuring that skilled, environmentally conscious students are properly trained to contribute to sustainable development in their existing and future careers.
Build skills in essential competence areas
Many technical job profiles and training programs are involved in the renewable energy field, from planning, installation, operation and maintenance to monitoring, optimization, modernization, and troubleshooting of a wide variety of electric power systems.
Our vast experience in electrical engineering education makes us uniquely suited to offer a range of modern and flexible learning solutions that allow you to develop and expand the practical expertise of operators, technicians, and engineers in the following areas:
Renewable energy technologies
Clean energy is generated from several natural resources and—thanks to technological advances— is used more efficiently today. However, these advances in technology require an increasing number of people with in-depth knowledge of the key production principles of solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, solar thermal energy, geothermal energy, heat pumps, fuel cells, hydrogen, and more. Only skilled workers can select the appropriate technology for each use case scenario and plan its core energy system.
Electrical installations
Renewable energy systems are wired and cabled like other electrical systems, requiring skilled workers to install, commission, and troubleshoot energy production systems, as well as integrate them into building systems or connect them to the grid. This work requires basic electrical and electrical safety skills.
Electrical motors and generators
Electrical machines are essential to green energy generation. Motors are used to facilitate many energy systems, like aligning solar panels with the sun throughout the day and running pumps in energy production cooling systems. And turbines and generators transform mechanical energy into electrical energy. Therefore, technicians must have strong knowledge of electrical machines and their optimal usage in energy production scenarios.
Power electronics
Power electronics enable electric power conversion and control, improving the efficiency of renewable energy and electrical systems. Power electronics devices integrate semiconductor components that serve as switching devices in industrial applications. Their large-scale use is common in electrical energy generation, transmission, distribution, and use. Power electronics also regulate grid voltage and current and interface renewable energy systems with the grid, playing a critical role in smart grid deployment. Electric vehicles use this technology extensively to process and control the flow of electricity, as well as motor speed and torque.
Key topics: Converters. Inverters. Controllers. Thyristors. Rectifiers. Power sources. Distributed power generation. HDVC. SVC.
Energy storage
Renewable sources do not always offer continuous and predictable energy production, which is why energy storage is so integral to renewable energy production. Energy storage promotes the optimal use of renewable energy by balancing supply with demand. Batteries, pumped hydraulic or thermal electricity storage, and compressed air and hydrogen storage are among the rapidly evolving technologies in this field that remove obstacles to renewable energy deployment and enable small- and large-scale energy storage.
Grid integration and infrastructure
Full deployment of renewable energy production requires the modernization of current electrical grid networks. Harnessing natural resources involves a higher level of geographic decentralization and seamless integration of discrete production sites into the grid architecture. Grid modernization also involves the integration of advanced communication, control, and sensor technology to establish two-way, producer-consumer communication. The benefits of smarter grids include increased reliability, efficiency, and resilience, as well as improved security and sustainability.
Key topics: Microgrids. Smart grid technologies. Distributed architecture and control. Transmission and distribution.
Energy efficiency
The key to a decarbonized world is the pairing of increased energy efficiency with clean energy generation. Workers must be attentive and responsive to every opportunity for energy savings and optimization throughout the energy production, transmission, distribution, and use cycle. Energy audits, measurement, waste reduction monitoring, and energy conservation are all vital to achieving energy efficiency. New digital and energy storage technologies are also instrumental to these objectives.
Key topics: Energy-efficient buildings, processes, vehicles. Storage of electrical, mechanical, thermal energy. Retrofitting. Power electronics. Performance measurement. Demand management. Control of energy systems and infrastructure. Energy management.
Process automation
Automation, instrumentation, and controls are essential components of renewable energy production, ensuring maximum safety, quality, reliability, and efficiency. And renewable energy can be used to power the processes that create the products required for clean energy, such as green hydrogen, green ammonia, and battery fluids.
Key topics: Energy management. Heat exchangers. Process control of flow, level, pressure, temperature, air flow, pH, and conductivity. Sensors, transmitters, valves, thermocouples, etc. Communication protocols and networks. Distributed control systems. SCADA. Smart technology. Measurement and data acquisition. Control strategies. PLC. HMI. Drives. Pumps. And more.