COURSE OVERVIEW & RELEASE DATES
- Week 1 (1 Sep 2015, 09:00 UTC): Introduction to Solar Energy
- Week 2 (8 Sep 2015, 09:00 UTC): Working Principle of a Semiconductor Based Solar Cell
- Week 3 (15 Sep 2015, 09:00 UTC): Solar Cell Operation, Performance and Design Rules
- Week 4 (22 Sep 2015, 09:00 UTC): PV Technology Based on Crystalline Silicon
- Week 5 (29 Sep 2015, 09:00 UTC): Thin-Film PV Technologies
- Week 6 (6 Oct 2015, 09:00 UTC): Third Generation PV and Other Ways to Utilize Solar Energy
- Week 7 (13 Oct 2015, 09:00 UTC): PV Systems - Components and Concepts
- Week 8 (20 Oct 2015, 09:00 UTC): PV Systems - Applications and Design
**Please note that all the release dates are in the co-ordinated universal time (UTC) zone**
We have created a .pdf file with a quick overview of all the contents within each block which you can download below:
Weekly Contents of MOOC Solar Energy
PRE-REQUISITES
The course is accessible for a broad range of students doing a BSc program. Some basic knowledge in physics is advantageous and mathematical skills as integration and differentiation are assumed to be known.
GRADING & CERTIFICATION
Online learners who achieve a passing grade in the course can earn a certificate of mastery. These certificates will indicate you have successfully completed the course, but will not include a specific grade. Certificates will be issued by edX under the name of DelftX, designating the institution from which the course originated.
In order to complete the course, a minimum overall grade of 58/100 is needed. The grading is divided into 5 assignments (40% of the total grade, the assignment with the worst grade will be drop) and 3 midterm exams (60% of the total grade). The assignments are located in weeks 1, 2, 4, 5 and 7, whereas the midterm exams are in weeks 3, 6 and 8.
The assignments and exams will be published at the release date of the corresponding week. The first assignment, the second assignment and the exam will have a deadline of 4, 5 and 6 weeks after their publication, respectively. The deadline of the remaining assignments and exams will be December 8th.
**Please note, again, that all the due dates are in the UTC time zone. That means that if a due date for an assignment is set for 10/20/2014 at 09:00AM UTC, the due date for a student in New York for the same exercise would be 10/20/2014, at 05:00AM (Eastern Daylight Time).**
WORKLOAD
Around 8 hours per week.
RESOURCES
This course makes use of the book "Solar Energy Conversion: Fundamentals, Technology and Systems" written by the TU Delft staff from the Photovoltaic Material and Devices (PVMD) department and can be found in the tab The Book above.
Moreover, you will find plenty of instructional videos each week. These videos (available in 360p, 720p or 1080p) including the subtitles, the transcripts and the slides used can be downloaded through the links below the videos. Additionally, the lecture slides are also made available under the Lecture Slides tab. The corresponding chapters from the book are arranged lecture-wise under The Book tab.
If however you would like to read more about the different topics discussed in this course, we have made a list with a couple of books and websites that you could use as a reference material. Note that this list is by no means complete; there are many more good books about solar energy out there. Also note that these books are not required for this course.
- Jenny Nelson - The Physics of Solar Cells (on solar cells)
- Peter Würfel - Physics of Solar Cells: From Basic Principles to Advanced Concepts (on Solar cells and PV technology)
- Martin A. Green - Solar Cells: Operating Principles, Technology, and System Applications (on solar cells, PV technology and PV systems)
- Donald A. Neamen - Semiconductor Physics And Devices: Basic Principles (Chapters 1-9 & 14, on semiconductor physics)
- Website: pveducation.org (great website with tons of information)
LICENSE
The course materials of this course are Copyright Delft University of Technology and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
The Book "Solar Energy Conversion: Fundamentals, Technology and Systems" is excluded from this license and cannot be distributed.
If you choose to reuse or repost DelftX course materials you must give proper attribution to the original TU Delft faculty author(s). Please utilize the following citation "This material was created by or adapted from material posted on the Delftx website, delftx.tudelft.nl, and created by TU Delft faculty member (Name), (Title), (Year). DelftX is not responsible for any changes made to the original materials posted on its website and any such changes are the sole responsibility of [name of user/adapter]."
You must also include a copy of the Creative Commons license used by DelftX, with every copy of the TU Delft materials or the derivative work you create from it.