Renewable Energy Engineering

This programme is designed to develop a critical awareness of the engineering challenges, and their solutions, posed by a rapidly changing global energy landscape. It will provide you with the knowledge and skills to assess renewable energy resources, design appropriate renewable energy systems, evaluate the performance of these systems and provide a clear understanding of the impact that renewable energy development has on our existing energy system.

Based at our Penryn campus, with access to our well equipped, state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities, you will have the opportunity to expand your engineering proficiency and develop key professional skills within an environment that is specifically designed to enhance your learning experience.

The programme differs to others due to its significant flexibility. After providing a solid foundation in the core knowledge and skills required of a renewable energy engineer, you can choose from a wide range of optional modules (see Section 4), thus attaining a professional degree that is focussed towards your preferred future career pathway.

This Programme will provide you with core, up-to-date knowledge of the rapidly advancing renewable energy sector.

Through a wide range of compulsory and optional modules, it will:

- allow you to specialise in topics of your own choosing, leading to an MSc tailored to better suit your future ambitions;

- introduce you to conventional energy systems and explore how we transition towards higher levels of cleaner, renewable energy technology penetration;

- through the provision of detailed formative and summative coursework feedback, develop your professional skills in areas of: presenting, group-work, communication, and report writing.

- allow you to develop your software skills through training with leading edge, industry-standard software (e.g. GIS, CAD/CAM, PVSyst, GaBi, Bladed, MATLAB, etc.). (This is a representative list of some of the software used today. This list may change in order to stay relevant to the industry.)

- provide you with the opportunity to conduct research on an open-ended topic of relevance to the renewable energy sector.

Your MSc Renewable Energy Engineering programme is a 1 year programme of study at National Qualification Framework (NQF) level 7 (as confirmed against the FHEQ). This programme is divided into 1 Stage. Each Stage is normally equivalent to an academic year.  The programme is also divided into units of study called modules which are assigned a number of credits. The credit rating of a module is proportional to the total workload, with 1 credit being nominally equivalent to 10 hours of work.

Interim Awards

If you do not complete the programme you may be able to exit with a lower qualification.

Postgraduate Diploma: At least 120 credits of which 90 or more must be at NQF level 7.

Postgraduate Certificate: At least 60 credits of which 45 or more must be at NQF level 7.

In both cases you must have successfully completed the core programme modules.

The following table describes the programme modules. Given the rapid change in the renewable energy sector, these modules may be updated, deleted or replaced in future years as a consequence of programme development. Details at any time may be obtained from the College website for renewable energy (see http://emps.exeter.ac.uk/renewable-energy/).

You may take option modules as long as any necessary prerequisites have been satisfied, where the timetable allows and if you have not already taken the module in question or an equivalent module. Descriptions of the individual modules are given in full on the College website for renewable energy (see http://emps.exeter.ac.uk/renewable-energy/).

The table below outlines the structure of the MSc programme. In Term 1, you will take two core/compulsory modules and select one of the optional modules. Short module descriptions are presented in Section 5. Every module has its own assessment criteria, details of which are provided in the module descriptors. In Term 2, you should select 4 of the 7 optional modules.

In the final third term, you will conduct a capstone research project/dissertation that encapsulates the skills and knowledge that you develop during the taught sections of the programme. This research project may take any of several forms — it may be hardware or software based, theoretical/practical, or a combination. It should be predominantly of a research nature and aim to make a small but unique contribution to your chosen subject area. It will lead to a dissertation submission and presentation (outlined in the module descriptor), with the dissertation submitted at the end of Term 3.

Full details of assessment regulations for all taught programmes can be found in the Teaching and Quality Assurance Manual, specifically in the Credit and Qualifications Framework, and the Assessment, Progression and Awarding: Taught Programmes Handbook.

Additional information, including Generic Marking Criteria, can be found in the Learning and Teaching Support Handbook.

All applications are considered individually on merit. The University is committed to an equal opportunities policy with respect to gender, age, race, sexual orientation and/or disability when dealing with applications. It is also committed to widening access to higher education to students from a diverse range of backgrounds and experience.

Entry requirements for this programme can be found on the Postgraduate Study Page.

Candidates must satisfy the general admissions requirements of the University of Exeter.

This programme is intended for students with engineering or scientific background, with a good honours degree (upper second) or equivalent normally being required. Candidates offering equivalent qualifications by experience rather than formal qualifications will be considered. Further advice may be sought by contacting engineeringmsc@exeter.ac.uk.

Non-standard applicants are dealt with on an individual basis, and are almost invariably interviewed. Mature applicants (over the age of 21) will normally be expected to have undertaken some recognised systematic course of study within the last three years (e.g. validated Access course, Open University, BTEC).

Certain programmes are subject to accreditation and/or review by professional and statutory regulatory bodies (PSRBs).

The MSc Renewable Energy Engineering is accredited by the Energy Institute (EI) on behalf of the Engineering Council as meeting the requirements for Further Learning for registration as a Chartered Engineer. Candidates must hold a CEng accredited BEng/BSc (Hons) undergraduate first degree to comply with full CEng registration requirements.

Accreditation is a mark of assurance that the degree meets the standards set by the Engineering Council in the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (UK-SPEC).

Accreditation is awarded for a maximum of 5 years under each assessment exercise. The dates applicable to the current accreditation of this degree programme can be viewed on the Engineering Council list of accredited degrees:www.engc.org.uk