RENEWABLE ENERGY systems 714/814 (15-20 MARCH 2010)

This course forms the foundation of the various modules in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies. It will provide course participants with an overview of the most significant renewable energy resources, concepts, technologies and challenges to overcome climate change and other sustainable development goals and an insight into the possible solutions to sustainable energy usage. Course participants will be able to recognise, understand and evaluate the different renewable energy resources available today and in the future. The main themes will include:

• Basic Energy Concepts;
• Conversion of Energy;
• Renewable Energy Resources:
  - Hydro-Energy
  - Geothermal Energy
  - Tidal, Wave and Ocean Energy
  - Wind Energy
  - Solar Thermal Energy
  - Photovoltaic Systems
• Renewable Energy Scenarios;
• Case studies of renewable energy systems.

SOLAR ENERGY 744/844 (24 - 29 MAY 2010)

The course consists of a study of both Photovoltaics (PV) and Solar-thermal technologies for generating electricity from sunlight. The principles, manufacturing technologies, efficiencies, advantages and limitations of various PV cells will be considered. The students should be able to design a manufacturing plant as well as practical installations of various PV components in a cost effective way. The main themes will include:

• Principles of operation of PV cells;
• Manufacturing technologies of crystalline and thin film PV cells;
• Balance of system (BOS): regulators, inverters and storage;
• Design of stand alone PV systems;
• Design of roof mounted grid connected PV systems;
• Design of large MW PV systems;
• Concentrators: combined heat and power generation (CHP).

The different solar-thermal systems will be introduced with the basic heat transfer and thermodynamics principles that apply. Both bulk electricity generation and smaller stand alone systems will be covered. The main themes will include

• Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer;
• Bulk solar thermal power generation systems;
• Energy storage;
• Large scale plant specifics and quantification;
• Life cycle costing.

RENEWABLE ENERGY POLICY 771/871 (19 - 24 JULY 2010)

The South African White paper on Renewable Energy (RE) has set for itself a target of 10 000 GWh of renewable energy (RE) by 2013. It has identified solar, wind, biofuels, small-hydro, landfill-to-gas and other renewable energy sources as development potential in South Africa.

The course participant will get to understand how the policy environment influences the financial aspects and project design of RE initiatives in South Africa. The participant will get to be familiar with a range of policy instruments, the financial structuring tools needed to attract investors, and how to use alternative financial sources, like carbon finance, outside of the commercial financial institutions to ensure financial viability of projects.

To achieve this general learning outcome, course participants will:

• understand the most important policy and legal mechanisms in place to facilitate the development and investment in RE;
• understand some of the global trends in policy, and how other countries have supported RE; 
• have a good grasp of the barriers to RE implementation and risks;
• be able to use specific financial concepts and tools that can influence RE project design and financial structuring;
• the student will be appraised of the policy and financial realities of RE and what attracts investors;
• learn about carbon finance, green certificates and demand side management as sources of alternative finance;
• will be taken through a landfill-to-gas case study to demonstrate how investment decisions are made and work;

CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SYSTEMS (19 - 24 APRIL 2010)

This course would cover:

• The five main conventional energy sources (coal, oil, gas, nuclear and large hydro)


• The usage of these energies in South Africa and the world
• Environmental impact and cost of each energy source


• The heat to electricity conversions cycle including:
  -different types of cycles
  -basic thermodynamics of these cycles
  -cycle efficiencies
  -cycle operating parameters

For students with a non-technical background, Renewable Energy Systems is strongly recommended before taking this course.

ENERGY EFFICIENT CITIES 771/871 (16 - 21 AUGUST 2010)

As one of the leading end-users of delivered energy, the built environment makes a major contribution to resource and environmental impacts of energy production and consumption in modern economies. This falls into three major categories as follows:

• Energy in operation/use of buildings
• Energy in production of construction materials, construction and demolition
• Energy in the access to built facilities (transport/commuting)

The sector also provides major opportunities in energy efficiency and renewable energy harvesting with both socioeconomic and environmental benefits. In context of developing countries, participants will gain multi-disciplinary skills that allow them to participate in the energy-and-built environment discourse both in the “challenges-” and “solutions-” dimensions. Participants will be able to:

• explain the nexus/coupling between energy-and-the built environment and related resource/environmental implications;
• conceptualise mitigation and adaptation strategies at macro- and micro-scale of the built environment spectrum;
• optimise socio-economic outcomes linked to interventions 
• analyse relevant policy and institutional frameworks for mitigation and adaptation.

SUSTAINABLE BIOMASS PRODUCTION 762 (12 - 17 JULY 2010)

This course provides an understanding of sustainable biomass production systems including agricultural, forestry, agroforestry, and to a lesser extent, aquatic systems. Students will learn to assess the potential and limitations for energy from biomass from different sources. They will understand basic principles of sustainable biomass production as an integrated part of energy supply.

The content will include planning in the land-use mosaic, low-tillage cultivation, greenhouse gas & energy balances, conflicts of interest with other industries and land-users, bioremediation, crop science, as well as a technical overview of supply side equipment, machinery and delivery systems.

To give the participants hands-on experience, knowledge of the interaction between policy, security, commerce, sustainability criteria and the need for distributed energy solutions, from this and other courses, will be drawn on in designing a small-scale Kyoto ‘Clean Development Mechanism’ (CDM) project in a final assignment.

WIND & HYDRO 744/844 (23 - 28 AUGUST 2010)

This module deals with the harvesting of energy from wind and water. It addresses the availability of the resources, the types of systems and machines, their capabilities and limitations, the processes of setting up such systems, and their associated costs and environmental impacts. The main elements of the course are listed below.

• Wind Power: Brief history, current state of industry and industry drivers. Predominant technologies, theory of operation, electromechanical and aerodynamic principles. Fundamentals of power quality and grid integration. Wind energy facility development process and methodologies, including wind resource assessment. Feasibility factors such as energy capture calculation, environmental impact assessment, grid studies and essential economics.
• Hydro power: Economic and environmental considerations. Hydrological resources and project feasibility. Types of turbine. Specific speed and specific power. Turbine selection criteria. Hydraulic energy, hydraulic losses, pipe friction and other losses. Turbine output. Multiple turbine units. Velocity of pressure waves in pipes. Turbine capability diagrams. Basic operational constraints. Turbine cavitation. Turbine efficiency. Present hydro installations in the world and in Africa. Cost of hydro power. Technology developments. Future scenarios.

BIO-ENERGY 744/844 (13 - 18 SEPTEMBER 2010)

The course will consider the technical issues, economic feasibility and sustainability of bio-energy production in the African context. The focus of the course is in the integration of technical, economic and sustainability considerations into project development, to find practical, innovative, sustainable solutions for bio-energy production. The course will involve the development of a conceptual understanding of the conversion technologies for bio-energy and biofuels production, including biodiesel, biogas, ethanol, combustion, pyrolysis, gasification and electricity generation.

Both first and second generation technologies will be considered, with an update on the commercial status of second generation technologies. The selection of the most appropriate technology from the demand side perspective will be a central thread through the course. Participants will perform a critical analysis of the sustainability of bio-energy production, including aspects of life cycle assessment. The course will emphasise the use of project-based groupwork by the participants to develop integrated, practical, innovative, sustainable opportunities for commercial implementation of bio-energy production. The course program will include site visits to familiarize participants with different conversion technologies for bio-energy production.

SUSTAINABLE LAND USE 723 (9 - 14 AUGUST 2010)

The course will present an integrated approach to planning the use and management of land resources. It will consider the involvement of all stakeholders in the process of decision making on the future of the land, and the identification and evaluation of all biophysical and socio-economic attributes of land units. This requires the identification and establishment of a use or non-use of each land unit that is technically appropriate, economically viable, socially acceptable and environmentally non-degrading. The course will expose students to:

• The theory of integrated land use planning  
• Land use planning techniques
• Participatory techniques for gathering socioeconomic
  data
• The geo-informatics tools available to land
  managers and decision makers

Use of an Open Source GIS, MapWindow, to demonstrate the practical application of spatial software tools and GIS data to land use planning and management.