EN 301 Renewable Energy Technology (Spring 2016-17)

Instructor Name: Prof. P. C. Ghosh

Course Type: Core

Pre-requisites: None

Course Content:
1. Solar radiation: spectrum, air mass, beam and diffuse radiation
2. Solar Geometry (covered for almost a month, aim is to calculate the solar radiation falling on a tilted surface)
3. Solar Thermal Energy Conversion: Flat Plate Collectors, Losses, Evacuated tube collectors, Concentration of beam radiation, efficiency
4. Solar Photovoltaic Energy Conversion: Bandgap, theory of p-n junction, illuminated junction characteristics (solar cell), maximum power point, construction of solar cell, losses, efficiency
5. Wind Energy: Wind speed distribution (Weibull and Rayleigh distribution), basics of aerofoils, Linear Momentum Theory, Blade element theory, power from wind
6. Bioenergy: Biomass definition and distribution, proximate and ultimate analysis, combustion, gasification, pyrolysis, anaerobic digestion, fermentation, biofuels: biogas, biodiesel, methanol, etc
7. Hydropower (optional)

Pre-requisites: None

Course Content: 1. Solar radiation: spectrum, air mass, beam and diffuse radiation

2. Solar Geometry (covered for almost a month, aim is to calculate the solar radiation falling on a tilted surface)

Other Topics Covered: Books: John Twidell and Tony Weir: Renewable Energy Resources, 2nd Edition

Solar Energy: Principles of Thermal Collection and Storage, S.P. Sukhatme

Lectures: Excellent lectures, 100% attendance policy enforced strictly, small class size, hence prof. knows everyone by name, great quality teaching of slides + board usage, all sl100 percent attendance, 5-6 surprise quizzes in class having half-weightage to attendance. Slides for the first 3 topics, then he switched to blackboard while highlighting topics from the textbook projected on the screen. Even without mandatory attendance, the professor is known to give questions from what he discusses in class in detail but can't be found in textbooks directly.

Assignments: None. 

Exams and Grading: 30 % Surprise Quizzes + Attendance, 30 % Midsem, 40 % Endsem

Pro-Tips: Do attend class. The topics are in fact easy conceptually but don't take the course lightly, it is not intensive to study and more than decent prep can be done if you just study the entire syllabus for 2 days provided you have attended some classes. 

Respondent: Basuhi Ravi