GET 306: Renewable Energy Systems & Technologies
Categories: Renewable Energy & Sustainable Technologies
About Course
GET 306: Renewable Energy Systems & Technologies introduces the fundamental principles, technologies, and applications of renewable energy systems. The course covers energy fundamentals, solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, biomass, and other renewable energy technologies, with emphasis on engineering principles, system components, performance, and practical applications.
Course Content
Energy Systems: Context & Sustainability
Energy is the basis for all development goals. Reliable, affordable power is key to food security, healthcare, education, and economic growth. But Nigeria, which has Africa’s largest natural gas reserves and produces more than 1.3 million barrels of oil a day, has more than 86 million citizens without access to electricity—the largest such deficit on the planet.
This module forms the foundation for the entire course. You will first look at global and Nigerian energy demand and supply patterns and the current energy mix—including the dominant role of traditional biomass and the catastrophic cost of the informal generator economy. From there, you will follow the fossil fuel resource cycle from extraction to end-use and learn about the environmental and economic implications of our continued fossil dependence.
Next, you will explore Nigeria’s role in the global climate change challenge, including its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, and examine the three-pillar sustainability framework that will guide engineering decisions throughout the semester. The module concludes with an overview of Nigeria’s energy policy landscape, including the role of NERC, the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), and the national energy transition plan.
By the end of this module, you will understand not only what Nigeria’s energy problem is but also why it exists and why fixing it is one of the defining engineering challenges of your generation.
Key Topics: Global energy mix · Nigeria’s access to energy · Fossil fuel cycles · SDG 7 · Climate change · NDCs · NERC · REA · Sustainability frameworks
Bloom's Levels: Remember · Understand · Analyze
Contact Hours: ~6 Lecture Hours | Weeks 1–2
Energy Fundamentals & Conversion Principles
To design, evaluate, or compare any energy system (solar, wind, biomass, or nuclear), you have to be able to precisely measure energy, calculate how efficiently it is converted, and quantify what is lost along the way. This module provides the essential quantitative foundation.
You will begin with forms of energy and units of energy, from joules and kilowatt hours to megajoules and electron volts, and learn to convert back and forth between them with ease. Then you will apply the first and second laws of thermodynamics to real energy conversion systems, knowing not only the efficiency but also the idea of exergy, the quality of energy, and the irreversibility of real processes.
Much of this module is spent on the calorific value of fuels and biomass—what it is (gross vs. net), how it is found with the bomb calorimeter, and why it is needed to compare coal and natural gas to cassava peels and biogas. You will also consider the entire energy conversion chain from the primary resource to the end-use and where losses occur at each stage.
The module concludes with a comparative discussion of the main pathways of conversion—combustion, nuclear fission, photovoltaic conversion, and electrochemical cells; and a review of the transmission and distribution of energy, including grid losses and the engineering rationale of off-grid design.
This module is the core of the course. All calculations to be performed from Module III onward are directly based on the principles established here.
Key Topics: Energy units · First & Second Laws · Exergy · Calorific value · Bomb calorimeter · Conversion efficiency · Energy chains · Combustion · PV conversion · Grid transmission
Bloom's Levels: Remember · Understand · Apply
Contact Hours: ~6 Lecture Hours | Weeks 2–3
-
23:32
-
-
-
-
-
Renewable Energy Technologies
This is the technical heart of GET 306—the module where renewable energy ceases to be an idea and becomes engineering. You will learn in detail in six consecutive technology lectures how the major renewable energy systems convert a natural resource into useful electricity or heat, what the key equations are, and how each technology maps onto Nigeria’s specific resource profile and development challenges.
Part 1 — Solar Energy: You will learn how to characterize solar irradiance (GHI and DNI), how a photovoltaic cell converts photons to electrons through the photoelectric effect, how to read and interpret the I–V and P–V characteristic curves, and how a complete PV system is assembled from modules, charge controllers, batteries, inverters, and balance-of-system components. Also included are solar thermal collectors and their use in drying agricultural crops, which addresses Nigeria’s 20–40% post-harvest losses crisis.
Part 2 – Wind Energy: You will derive the wind power equation (P = ½ρAv³), understand the physical basis and value of the Betz limit (Cp, max ≈ 0.593), interpret the Weibull wind speed distribution, calculate capacity factor, and assess Nigeria’s wind resource zone by zone using published data.
Part 3 – Hydropower: Follow the energy conversion chain from headwater to grid; distinguish gross and net head; apply the hydropower power equation P = ηρgQH; read a Flow Duration Curve to select design flows; compare turbine types and their respective ranges of head and flow; evaluate the small-hydro potential of 3,500 MW in Nigeria.
Part 4 — Biomass and Bioenergy: You will review Nigeria’s agricultural biomass feedstocks, learn about the four-stage anaerobic digestion process that produces biogas, and learn about the transesterification reaction that transforms vegetable oils into biodiesel (including the stoichiometry, reagents, and quality standards).
Part 5 — Geothermal Energy. You will learn about the principles of extraction of heat from inside the earth, compare the three main types of geothermal systems (dry steam, flash steam, and binary/ORC), and look at simulation approaches to geothermal resource assessment.
Part 6 — Wave and Ocean Energy: You will characterize wave energy resources by significant wave height and period, use the wave power formula (J ≈ 0.5H²sTe), and survey the main types of wave energy converters and their development status.
By the end of this module, you will be able to select, size, and justify a renewable energy technology for a given application in Nigeria—the core competency assessed in the capstone project.
Key Topics: GHI · DNI · PV I–V curve · Solar thermal · Agricultural drying · Wind power equation · Betz limit · Capacity factor · Hydropower equation · FDC · Turbine types · Biogas · Transesterification · Geothermal ORC · Wave power
Bloom's Levels: Understand · Apply · Analyze · Evaluate
Contact Hours: ~9 Lecture Hours | Weeks 3–5
Nuclear Energy
Nuclear energy is one of the most misunderstood technologies in the world energy debate, both the subject of intense fear and intense hope. This module cuts through both to provide you with an engineering-grounded understanding of what nuclear energy is, how it works, what its real risks are, and what realistic role it can play in a sustainable global energy future.
You will begin with nuclear fission, the splitting apart of heavy atomic nuclei (mostly uranium-235 and plutonium-239), and move through the entire fuel cycle, from uranium mining and enrichment through reactor operation to waste management and disposal. You will learn about the chain reaction mechanism and the role of moderators and control rods, and you will compare the major reactor designs: Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR), Boiling Water Reactors (BWR), and the emerging Small Modular Reactors (SMR) that are generating significant investment worldwide.
Then you will learn about nuclear fusion—the energy source of the sun—the conditions for ignition, the current status of the ITER project in France, and the realistic timescale for fusion to contribute to the energy mix.
A dedicated section on radiation basics discusses the types of ionizing radiation (alpha, beta, gamma, and neutron) and their penetrating power, detection instruments (Geiger-Müller counters and scintillation detectors), and principles of dose measurement and safety—directly relevant to the GET 306 practical program.
The module ends with a frank comparative assessment: the capacity factor advantage of nuclear power (>90%), its low life cycle carbon emissions, cost disadvantages, and the governance and public acceptance challenges that make it a difficult choice for countries considering expansion—including whether nuclear has any realistic near-term role in Nigeria’s energy future.
Key Topics: Nuclear fission · Fuel cycle · Reactor types · SMR · Nuclear fusion · ITER · Radiation types · Geiger-Müller detector · Dose & safety · Global nuclear capacity · Uranium & thorium resources
Bloom's Levels: Remember · Understand · Analyze · Evaluate
Contact Hours: ~3 Lecture Hours | Week 5
Energy Storage, Transmission & Conservation
Generating renewable energy is only half the engineering challenge. The other half, arguably the harder half, is to make sure that energy is available where and when it is needed, of the right quality and without wasteful losses. This module will address the challenge in three interrelated areas: storage, transmission, and conservation.
In the storage section, you will survey the entire landscape of energy storage technologies. In electrochemical storage, you will compare lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries on energy density, cycle life, depth of discharge (DOD), state of charge (SOC), C-rate, and cost – the parameters that define whether a battery bank is correctly specified for a solar home system or mini-grid in rural Nigeria. Thermal storage: You will understand sensible heat storage systems, latent heat storage with phase-change materials (PCM), and molten salt storage for large-scale concentrated solar power plants. Mechanical storage – pumped hydro and flywheels – and emerging chemical storage options round out the picture.
The section on hybrid systems includes several technologies. You will analyze solar-diesel, solar-wind and solar-hydro hybrid architectures and understand how control strategies dictate when each source supplies the load and when storage is drawn down. You will learn to apply load profiling to real or representative Nigerian community loads, and acquire an understanding of the principles of mini-grid sizing – the most practically important skill for an engineer in Nigeria’s energy sector.
The transmission section looks at how electricity moves from generator to consumer via transformers, transmission lines, distribution networks and smart metering systems and how losses are quantified and minimized. The difference between centralized grid connection and distributed off-grid design is developed using Nigerian examples.
The module concludes with energy conservation: demand-side management techniques, efficiency standards and the engineering and behavioral approaches that lower energy demand without reducing services—an ever more important tool as Nigeria’s energy transition speeds up.
Key Topics: Lead-acid vs. Li-ion batteries · SOC · DOD · C-rate · PCM thermal storage · Pumped hydro · Hybrid system architectures · Mini-grid design · Load profiling · Grid losses · Distributed generation · Demand-side management
Bloom's Levels: Understand · Apply · Analyze · Evaluate
Contact Hours: ~6 Lecture Hours | Weeks 6–7
Energy Economics, Environmental Assessment & Sustainability
A technically sound energy system that is economically unfeasible, environmentally damaging, or socially unjust is not a good engineering solution. This final module provides you with the integrated analytical framework to make (and defend) responsible energy decisions.
You start with the economic toolkit. The most common way to compare energy technologies over their lifetimes on an equal footing is the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE): you will calculate it step-by-step, learning how capital cost, operating cost, fuel cost, discount rate, and project lifetime all play a role. Then you will calculate the Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) to determine if a particular energy investment is financially feasible and use the simple payback period as a quick screening tool. A comparative cost analysis of fossil, nuclear, and renewable technologies (using IRENA’s 2023 global cost dataset) shows how dramatically the economics of renewable technologies have turned in their favor over the past decade.
The environmental assessment section presents the framework of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) applied to energy projects, from scoping to impact prediction, monitoring, and mitigation phases. You will conduct a structured lifecycle carbon analysis of competing technology options, learn how to differentiate between operational emissions and embodied (construction phase) emissions, and learn how to use carbon intensity (gCO₂/kWh) as a comparative metric.
The module concludes with the broadest perspective of the course – the interplay of engineering, economic and social trade-offs in real energy decisions, the framing of those decisions by the UN SDGs (particularly SDG 7, SDG 13 and SDG 9) at a national and international level, and the possibilities (and responsibilities) created by Nigeria’s green finance environment and international climate funding mechanisms for the next generation of energy engineers.
This module is deliberately last because it requires that all that has gone before (the technology knowledge, the thermodynamic principles, the economic awareness, and the social context) be brought to bear at once. It is the course's integrative capstone.
Key Topics: LCOE · Payback period · NPV · IRR · Technology cost comparison · EIA framework · Lifecycle carbon analysis · Carbon intensity · Energy mix trade-offs · SDGs · Green finance · Nigeria investment landscape
Bloom's Levels: Apply · Analyze · Evaluate · Create
Contact Hours: ~6 Lecture Hours | Weeks 7–8
Student Ratings & Reviews
No Review Yet