THE WEB AS A TOOL FOR TRAINING IN THE RENEWABLE ENERGY FIELD IOANA OPRIS* AND LUSINE CARACASIAN** * Romanian Energy Policy Association, E-mail:
[email protected] ** Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority / Internal and International Cooperation, E-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract The European Community has long recognised the need to further promote renewable energy given that its exploitation contributes to sustainable development, security of supply and the development of a knowledge based industry creating jobs, economic growth, competitiveness and rural development. The set of proposals launched on January 2008 by the European Commission complement existing measures aiming at reaching the overall objective of 20% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 as well as meeting the target of a 20% share of energy consumption for renewable by 2020. The 20% commitment was shared between Member States using a flat-rate approach modulated by GDP method. For Romania an increase of 6,2% was envisaged from 17,8% share of energy from renewable sources in final energy consumption in 2005 to 24% in 2020. In order to ensure the development of renewable energy markets information barriers should be removed. In this context, the paper presents a comprehensive, well-illustrated, computer-based training platform in how to plan and execute renewable energy projects developed under the Leonardo da Vinci project “Virtual multimedia training to renewable energies installers (e-Sun)”. The training concept aims to combine the advantages of distance training and classical training. The methodology is developed so as to offer a training process available to people with little time and/ or mobility, to present the information in a way that is attractive and easy to assimilate and to favour the access to training in an asynchronous, flexible way. There are three distinctive training modules in the platform has three: solar-thermal energy, solar-photovoltaic energy and wind energy. In order to address a large range of stakeholders and at the same time to avoid giving non-relevant information for a specific target group, each training module was divided in two types of courses: a technical/ practical knowledge course (for training/ re-training people with medium technical education and labour convertible to such jobs) and a basic knowledge course on the renewable energy market (for training/ re-training local decision makers and other individuals with higher education). The virtual environment is developed under the open-source platform “moodle” (Modular Objected Oriented Distance Learning Environment) . Keywords: renewable energy, e-learning
1. INTRODUCTION The Community has long recognized the need to further promote renewable energy given that its exploitation contributes to climate change mitigation through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, sustainable development, security of supply and the development of a knowledge based industry creating jobs, economic growth, competitiveness and regional and rural development. This Proposal for a new Directive, launched in January 2008, aims to establish an overall binding target of a 20% share of renewable energy sources in energy consumption and a 10% binding minimum target for biofuels in transport to be achieved by each Member State, as well as binding national targets by 2020 in line with the overall EU target of 20%. The 20% commitment was shared between Member States using a flat-rate approach modulated by GDP
method. For Romania an increase of 6,2% was envisaged from 17,8% share of energy from renewable sources in final energy consumption in 2005 to 24% in 2020 (electricity, heating, cooling, biofuels). In Romania, to promote electricity produced from renewable energy sources (E-RES) such as wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, waves, hydrogen and in hydropower units with installed powers of 10 MW or below, put into operation or modernised after 2004, a green certificates market was introduced that became operational in November 2004. Through GD 443/2003, that was amended and complemented by GD 958/2005, Romania transposed the provisions of the EC/2001/77 Directive into the national legislation. The national target representing the E-RES ratio in the final consumption was set to 33% of the final consumption for the year 2010. E-RES producers can sell the produced energy on the market and the difference between the selling price and the total
costs of the generation is covered through the commercialisation of the green certificates either through bilateral contracts or on the green certificates market organised and administrated by SC Opcom SA. The suppliers purchase a mandatory E-RES quota, the compliance with this quota being reflected in the number of the green certificates they acquired.
performance and reliability needs of the customer, incorporate quality craftsmanship, and comply with all applicable codes and standards, including energy and eco-labelling. In this respect the E-Sun project seems to be a good start. 3. THE E-SUN PROJECT
2. SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSAL FOR A NEW RENEWABLE DIRECTIVE
e-Sun is a comprehensive, well-illustrated, computerbased training course in how to plan and execute renewable energy projects [1].
In the framework of this energy policy, the renewable energy sector stands out for its ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollution, exploit local and decentralised energy sources, and stimulate worldclass high-tech industries.
The project is developed by a consortium of European organizations under the Leonardo da Vinci project “Virtual multimedia training to renewable energies installers (e-Sun)”: - Associacio Mon Blau-Verd (Spain) – coordinator; - Research and Development Center Intercollege – Unit of Environmental Studies (Cyprus); - Region Ostfriesland E.V. (Germany); - Biourbe (Spain); Romanian Energy Policy Association (Romania); Serviciul Public de Management Energetic Harghita (Romania).
Renewable energy sources are largely indigenous, they do not rely on the future availability of conventional sources of energy, and their predominantly decentralised nature makes economies less vulnerable to volatile energy supply. For renewable to become the "stepping stone" to reaching the dual objective of increased security of supply and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, a change in the way in which the EU promotes renewable is needed. Strengthening and expansion of the current EU regulatory framework is necessary. It is important to ensure that all Member States take the necessary measures to increase the share of renewable in their energy mix. One of the new features introduced by this new proposal beside the transaction of guarantees of origin for electricity and heat and the mandatory targets is the information and training aspects. Article 13 specifies at para.3 the followings: (3) Member States shall develop certification schemes for installers of small-scale biomass boilers and stoves, solar photovoltaic and solar thermal systems and heat pumps. Those schemes shall be based on the criteria laid down in Annex IV. Each Member State shall recognise certification awarded by other Member States in accordance with these criteria. In the certification process an important role is played by training activities. Biomass, heat pump and solar photovoltaic and solar thermal installers shall be certified by an accredited training programme or training provider. The training leading to installer certification shall include both theoretical and practical parts. At the end of the training, the installer must have the skills required to install the relevant equipments and systems to meet the
3.1 The objective of e-Sun The course addresses the increased need of skilled workers on installation, use and maintenance of renewable energy installations, the need of individuals with low educational background to increase their capability to be socially inserted and who could find job opportunities or job re-orientation in the renewable energy sector, and the need to promote environmental sustainable practices and the renewable energy sources in particular. There are three distinctive training modules: solarthermal energy, solar-photovoltaic energy and wind energy. In order to address large range of stakeholders and at the same time to avoid giving non-relevant information for a specific target group, each training module was divided in two levels of courses: - a technical/practical knowledge course – for training/retraining people with medium technical education and labour convertible to such jobs. Content of the course: basic theory, technology, system design and planning, installation, management, maintenance and safety aspects, examples of application and best practices. - a basic knowledge course on the renewable energy market – for training/re-training local decision makers and other individuals with higher education. Content of the course: basic theory, systems/components, market, economical issues, legislation, environmental and social impact.
-
Resources and other materials – contain support materials to the course: general information about the course, study plan, glossary of terms and other didactic materials (articles, news, pictures etc) that the teacher consider useful to the students.
-
Didactic materials – structured in modules scheduled in one week. Didactic modules consist of theory materials for the study of different issues and quizzes (figure 2) that may be followed by the students to assess the degree of understanding of the theory materials without any influence on the final grade.
-
Activity of evaluation (CAA), for the graduation of the module; consists of a problem that has to be solved .
3.2 The training concept The training concept aims to combine the advantages of distance training and classical training: - The learning process is based on information technologies: web access, electronic documents, images, animations etc; - The students and teachers meet only on a virtual platform; they may follow the lessons according to their own schedule and wherever they want; - There is an active communication between the students and the teacher; by giving each student the possibility of discussing with the teacher and with the other students; thus the course becomes more friendly, easy to understand and learn. 3.3 The virtual environment The virtual environment is based on an open-source platform called “moodle” (Modular Objected Oriented Distance Learning Environment) [2].
Figure 2. Theory material.
3.4 The pilot test of e-Sun in Romania
The pilot test has been carried out in each of the partners country. For Romania, the pilot test followed the technical/practical knowledge course on solarphotovoltaic energy. It was organized at the University POLITEHNICA of Bucarest. The trainees were students in their second study year at the Faculty of Power Engineering, during their period of practice. Figure 1. Central area of the course graphic interface.
The central area of the platform includes the most important elements (figure 1):
The training method consisted in a first face-to-face meeting for the presentation of the course, followed only by an online interaction between the trainer and trainees.
Communication tools – include a “Teachers’new board” (where the teacher publish indications and other messages for the students) and a “students’forum” (for communication between all the participants, students and teacher).
The evaluation of trainers, training tool and training material was done by collection of data through questionnaires distributed to the participants. Based on the evaluation results, a recommendations list was prepared in order to improve the training e-tool.
-
Bellow are some of the general comments received after the pilot test: - It’s an interesting and dynamic approach to renewable energies; - It’s a friendly way to learn and it is easy to use; - Only the most important information are included in the course; - The real-life examples ("Study cases") are very useful; - The communication tool between teacher student and between the students was used. - The evaluation activities have been very well considered. Especially, the possibility to check the answers and the change of answers’ position for each attempt.
4. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Funding sources for the work described: project Leonardo da Vinci
5. REFERENCES [1] European Commission proposal regarding a new directive for renewable, www.ec.europa.eu/energy/climate_actions [2] Virtual multimedia to renewable energy installers, See also: www.e-sun.org
[3] Virtual multimedia training environment for renewable [4]
energies, See also: www.e-sunlearn.org Rehman S. Solar radiation over Saudi Arabia and
comparisons with empirical models. Energy 1998; 23(12): 1077-1082.
