Renewable Energy is a key climate solution that has the potential to provide a massive reduction in CO2 emissions and address the effect of climate change. However, to integrate a high percentage of intermittent renewable energy, energy storage must play a key role.
The shift to renewable energy can happen only if the industry and public sector have the skills and the in-depth knowledge of the scientific and technological issues concerning energy systems. The expertise acquired will fulfil the expectations of a global energy market that is predicted to grow to US$3.6 billion of annual investments within the next decade and an energy storage market predicted to be worth US$250 billion by 2040.
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The MSc in Renewable Energy and Energy Management and MSc Energy Storage at Ulster University provides the opportunity for graduates and professionals to acquire knowledge of renewable energy, energy management and energy storage solutions to develop skills appropriate to its practice.
The MSc Renewable Energy and Energy Management is a three-year part time, fully online course, that seeks to increase capacity for understanding the theoretical concepts and socio-economic principles and techniques on which renewable energy technologies and energy management strategies are founded. The course aims to develop graduates who will have the knowledge, insight and skills to lead programmes of change, new design or retrofit solutions that require the deployment of either or both energy efficiency measures and renewable energy technologies.
The course is accredited by both the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) and the Energy Institute (EI).
The dedicated course for Energy Storage
Ulster’s new MSc Energy Storage is offered as a one-year full time face to face or fully online course, and as a three-year part time face-to-face or fully online course. It has been designed to meet a rapidly developing field of study within both academia and industry, in response to the need to decarbonise our energy system through renewable energy.
Of particular interest for the overseas market, where a one-year route may not be recognised by some employers, the course can also be offered as a two-year MSc Energy Storage with Applied Research pathway. In the two-year course, the second year is fully dedicated to a research dissertation project and students receive an MSc award with a specialism.
Both courses are delivered by the Centre of Sustainable Technologies (CST), whose knowledge, facilities, industrial links and data sets are drawn from more than £20 million of externally funded past and current projects in energy storage.
As a primary example, SPIRE 2 – Storage Platform for the Integration of Renewable Energy – is an Ulster University led, EU funded cross-border project worth €6.7m, exploring how energy storage resources owned by business and domestic consumers can resolve the problem of the variability of output from renewable energy.
Students on these MSc courses will have the opportunity to engage with industry during their research dissertation project and through the participation in workshops/seminars organised by the Centre for Sustainable Technologies, linked to national and international projects in the field of energy storage and energy.
A key strength of each course is the staff; students are taught by cutting-edge academics who enhance the learning experience with research-led teaching. According to the UK Universities 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), 100% of the Centre for Sustainable Technologies research has been rated as world-leading and internationally excellent, reflecting the strong portfolio of external research grants levered from prestigious sources and a vibrant PhD programme.
The modules of both courses are all 15 credit points modules, except for the dissertation module that is 60 credit points. For the Applied Research pathway, the dissertation module is 120 credit points. Modules are all 100% coursework. There is a maximum of two items of assessment in a module. An item may include more than one component, but the overall item will have a single mark.
The MSc in Renewable and Energy Management and MSc Energy Storage allows students to develop and enhance their employability skills. Employability is embedded within all the modules rather than concentrating on specific modules.
Students may be admitted to the Masters programme in line with Accreditation of Prior Learning guidelines. Graduates from the courses are eligible to directly enter graduate employment or to proceed to further study at PhD level.
Links to the courses: