Paper Authors

Abstract

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Development of an E-learning System and a Virtual Laboratory for Renewable Energy Sources

Abstract

In the modern world where everything changes at an extremely fast rate a constant and continual upgrading of knowledge is vital. Nowadays most utility and energy companies use advanced technology such as renewable energy sources applications. There have been significant advances in renewable energy conversion technology which has spurned the demand for engineers and technicians trained in the area of renewable energy. As the Internet has developed into a reliable channel long distance-learning programs have become increasingly popular over the last decade. E-learning programs and virtual laboratories are ideal for professionals and students who need to update or to acquire knowledge and skills at their own pace. This paper presents the development of an e-learning system for renewable energy technology which is to be implemented and developed at our institution. It provides the students with virtual experiments on renewable energy sources and hybrid power systems. The implementation of the above system is taking place in MATLAB-Simulink. The proposed system provides the learner with information about the most important functions, principles and operational problems of each of the renewable energy sources included.

1. Introduction

Climate changes, environmental concerns, high fossil fuel price, and limited world fossil fuels reserves are driving the increasing search for new alternative and green energy resources. These environmental concerns and the ever-increasing need for electrical power generation and steady progress in power deregulation have created increased interest in environmentally conscious distributed generation. Of particular interest are alternative energy distributed generation (AEDG) systems such as wind, photovoltaic (PV), and fuel cell (FC) power generation devices with zero (or near zero) emission of greenhouse and hazardous gases during the operation. Given the rapid progress in AEDG development and utilization there will be a great need for trained professionals with adequate knowledge in this area who will have to know how to be able to plan, design and operate AEDG systems, evaluate performance, and perform analytic evaluation of the impact on power systems1. Renewable energy technologies are changing rapidly so technicians and engineers do not always have enough time to attend new intensive or short courses in order to improve their knowledge and keep up to date with innovative concepts. Universities must be able to provide courses in the areas of alternative energy and sustainability. Education, training and learning are important tools that must be used in order to be able to take the necessary steps that will re-shape our way of living into a sustainable one. In terms of sustainability the time is running short wide groups have to be trained mostly in non formal and informal systems, therefore, special attention needs to be given to setting renewable energy and sustainability development in undergraduate and graduate programs, workforce training in these emergent areas of industry, adults education, as well lifelong learning. On the other hand, the cost and space requirements of establishing and/or upgrading a renewable energy laboratory are often prohibitive for many academic institutions. E-learning and virtual laboratory and experiments seem the only effective and feasible solutions. They offer flexible learning

• Citation

• Format
  • APA
  • APA - LaTeX bibitem
  • MLA
  • MLA - LaTeX bibitem
  • Bibtex
  • EndNote - RIS

Belu, R., & Korain, D. (2010, June), Development Of An E Learning System And A Virtual Laboratory For Renewable Energy Sources Paper presented at 2010 Annual Conference & Exposition, Louisville, Kentucky. 10.18260/1-2--15898