Renewable Energy Systems (UniSA)

In this course, students will develop skills in proposing, developing, and implementing renewable energy systems in harnessing electrical energy, especially from solar and wind resources. Fossil fuels, environmental impact and climate changes. Content includes: Overview of various renewable energy sources, challenges and opportunities; Details of wind energy systems - wind power, wind histogram, Weibull and Rayleigh statistics, probability density function, performance coefficient, wind turbines, power curve, wind generators, capacity factor, annual energy, wind farms, and economics of wind energy systems; Sun and solar resources - earth's orbit, sun path, solar irradiance, air-mass ratio, optimal tilt angle, and tracking systems; Details of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems - photovoltaic materials, PV cells, equivalent circuits, I-V characteristic, modules, strings, arrays, shading impacts, hourly I-V curves, maximum power point tracker, predicting PV performance, derate factors, and economy of PV systems; Battery energy storage systems, grid-connected, and stand-alone PV systems.