Sustainability education in the field of energy and acquisition of an appropriate set of skills for everyone to be able to deal critically with the issue of energy related to climate change.
Acquisition of basic technical-scientific knowledge in order to be able to assess current technologies and deal with the energy transition. Acquisition of basic environmental skills and related communication skills.
The module aims at analysing the potential of solar energy within the energy transition. The aim is to provide students with the basic skills to be able to better understand the potential of photovoltaic conversion of solar energy by describing the different types of solar cells currently on the market. The advantages and disadvantages of the various technologies, their potential fields of application and a description of how a photovoltaic system works and how its performance is evaluated will be explained. The full sustainability of this inexhaustible source of renewable energy will also be demonstrated by describing the current recovery and recycling process of end-of-life solar panels.
Lesson1. 2 hours, Photovoltaic energy in the current renewable energy scenario: state of the art and future prospects.
Lesson 2. 2 hours, How does a solar cell work? General characteristics and operating principles of photovoltaic devices.
Lesson 3. 2 hours, Types of solar cells on the market (crystalline silicon cells and thin film cells for building integration).
Lesson 4. 2 hours, New materials and new types of cells: current research lines.
Lesson 5. 2 hours, Photovoltaic modules and plants: how to quantify the energy produced by a domestic photovoltaic plant and how to calculate its economic and energy return + recycling processes of photovoltaic panels at the end of their life.
Lesson 6. 1 hour, Photovoltaics everywhere: the photovoltaics of the cities and countryside of the future: from architectural integration in buildings to the exploitation of indoor lighting up to Agrivoltaics. 1 hour, Forecast from 1 Terawatt (1000 GW) today to 70 TW of installed capacity in 2050 needed to reach the climate objectives set in the 2015 Paris agreement.
Bachelor/master degree.