Renewable Energy Engineering

freddzeppelin

Anyone got any views on it?

I graduated with a Civil Engineering degree in 2008, worked two and a half years as a civil design engineer and then the inevitable happened. So I'm wondering what to do now. There's not much jobs going in civil engineering in Ireland and not a whole lot more going in the UK that I can see. Call me pessimistic but as far as I can see this is gonna to be the case in Ireland for the next 10 to 15 years and as people start coming back to the country the competition is going to get stronger.

So I was thinking about doing a masters in Renewable Energy. This sector seems to be the way forward. Has anyone got any views on it? Or has anyone done a masters course in it in Ireland or the UK that they would recommend?

Any help is appreciated.

Cheers
Fred

pieface_ie

Hey

DIT do a Energy Management course

http://eleceng.dit.ie/uploads/41_DT015%20Eng.pdf

Not sure how good it is, but speaking to staff there is a demand for energy management engineers on the continent. An email was sent to everyone (on related courses) That the were vacancies for energy management engineers who could speak two languages, but said that requirement will change soon when new positions open up.

I think the company's mentioned were Philips and Siemens.

Jobs where on the continent.

Kavrocks

I've heard rumours of an expected shortage of Electrical and Electronic Engineers in the next 5 - 7 years but nothing about Renewable Energy Engineers.

Cappry

Evening Fred. I have 6 modules of 8 completed in an Msc in Renewable Energgy Systems Technology via distance learning at Loughborough Uni in the UK. Distance learning is tough, and the course is very technical, perhaps too much so....ie: Would be ideal if you wanted to get into designing wind turbines, solar panels etc...but lots of common sense stuff missing that you would need to sound competent to a future customer.
I do know some Irish folks who travelled over to Campus for 12mths for the one year full time and found it challenging.
Though not qualified, I looked for work in the sector, and positions were very few...most potential employers would not engage anyone without a qulification AND experience...so its been a dead end for me so far. Going to finish the Msc over the next 18mths.

In summary, I too still believe its the way forward, but despite lots of Wind turbines here...its still a young indistry. Solar thermal is very in the space of your average plumber, domestic wind is still expensive, and Solar PV without expensive storage is not that attractive. Water power is promising but only accessible to large developers and fraught with env issues.... Have a look here...http://www.lboro.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/courses/departments/eleceng/index.html

david4791

Hello Fred, Kavroks is correct in what he is saying. I'm a chartered civil engineer with 11 years experience currently working on a sewerage scheme which will be coming to an end in 8 weeks. I attended the recent (March 2011) IEI day seminar on future of Ireland's energy needs, there I spoke with Andy Kinsells from Mainstream energies along with the head of bord na mona (who are well involved in renewables) , I too was going to jump into Msc in Renewable Energy in Dundalk IT prior to this meeting. The sector doesn't need any more renewable people, what they desperately need is electrical engineers full stop. There are major shortages of power engineers required to design pylons,submarine cables power stns etc etc. It was mooted recently that Trinity and UCD may develop a crossover 2 year course for civil and mechanical engineers to advance to electrical engineering status, this would be great if it comes to fruition. Perhaps all civil engineers should petition the universities in question to start it ASAP. Hope this helps. As We all know electrical engineering wasn't sexy when we filled in our cao
forms back then, we civil engineers had our day in the sun over the past 10years, now it's time I guess for the electrical guys to make hay!

freddzeppelin

Thanks for all the responses guys. Some very enlightening points. I don't have a clue where to go from here!! Renewable energy seemed like the way forward but as you said David the positions that will be in abundance will probably be for Electrical Engineers. I'll have to do a bit more thinking on it.

david4791

Yes Fred its hard to know. I plan to meet top brass in IEI over coming weeks to discuss this, considering IEI have their finger on the pulse of all the engineering disciplines. I will keep you posted.

freddzeppelin

david4791 wrote: »

Yes Fred its hard to know. I plan to meet top brass in IEI over coming weeks to discuss this, considering IEI have their finger on the pulse of all the engineering disciplines. I will keep you posted.

I'd appreciate that, thanks.

Inbox

Kavrocks wrote: »

I've heard rumours of an expected shortage of Electrical and Electronic Engineers in the next 5 - 7 years but nothing about Renewable Energy Engineers.

Thanks for mentioning that, sounds great as I have applied to a few of the different electrical/electronic engineering courses for next year.I was worrying that I was doing the wrong thing.

freddzeppelin

Inbox wrote: »

Thanks for mentioning that, sounds great as I have applied to a few of the different electrical/electronic engineering courses for next year.I was worrying that I was doing the wrong thing.

Are you/were you a Civil Engineer Inbox?

Inbox

No sorry not an engineer yet. Just getting into it

Kavrocks

Inbox wrote: »

Thanks for mentioning that, sounds great as I have applied to a few of the different electrical/electronic engineering courses for next year.I was worrying that I was doing the wrong thing.

What colleges?

iamstop

Hi all,

I'm doing Electrical Services and Energy Management, level 8 in DIT Kevin St., finish up end of May.
It was a one year add on to Mechanical (level 7) that I did last year in Bolton St.
Deffo not as technical as Mech Eng, but still seems to be worth while. A few of the lads already have jobs lined up in the UK after. I'm not interested in the UK but my end up moving to Australia after the summer.
One lad on the course was an architect for 14 years, let go and figured rather then just be on the dole he'd do a back to education thing. His thesis was on passive housing so should be good for him in the future.
I've heard Bolton St. are dropping a few subjects in favour of more energy type subjects. Seems to be the way of the future.

Hope this helps a bit.

colcar

had interviews today for energy engineering and civil engineering just wondering does anybody know if theres much of an overlap between the courses? energy engineering is my preferred choice but feel i done better in the civil interview. i am an electrician and have done a renewable energy full time 1 year course so would like to continue with this but if i got civil could i do something along the energy lines as a masters or a further add on degree??