STATUS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY EDUCATION IN INDIA

COLLEGES OFFERING RE IN INDIA

G.Abhinava 12MEE0016 March 26, 2013

Table of Contents:
CHAPTER1.Introduction: Trends in renewable Energy Key issues related to manpower in india CHAPTER2.Estimated future demand in different sectors and functional areas. CHAPTER3.RE curricula in educational institutions Details of the institutions offering RE courses Major concerns and issues of the students Major concerns and issues of the institutions Challenges faced by the industry Offered course details REFERENCES ANNEXURES: Annexure 1:State wise details of the college offering RE course Annexure 2:Institutes offering PG Level courses on Renewable Energy Annexure 3:1.course structure guideline as per AICTE for Renewable Energy 2. Course structure of M.Tech at SMVD University(J&K) 3. Course structure of M.Tech at TERI (Delhi)

ABSTRACT: India has witnessed an exponential growth in renewable energy sector achieving a total installed capacity of 17,174 MW (excluding large hydro) as on 30.06.2010 (Source: MNRE Achievements http://www.mnre.gov.in/). The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India which has been pioneering this activity, has plans to facilitate further growth to achieve the vision of affordable and reliable clean energy to every citizen of the country. The rapid growth in this sector would require an extensive pool of competent manpower (knowledgeable and skilled) to design, install and maintain the RE systems. Against this background the MNRE has proactively initiated a project to estimate the future Human Resource (HR) needs in the Renewable energy sector and evolve suitable HRD strategies for meeting them. This paper provides information about potential growth and employment opportunity related to Renewable Energy sector and the present status of the Renewable Energy Education in India ,Challenges faced by students ,universities and companies for Renewable Energy and the various Universities & Institutions providing various degrees on Renewable energy technology state wise. And also the subjects offered under the course by different universities.

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: Trends in renewable Energy: India has witnessed an exponential growth in renewable energy sector during the last few years. Renewable energy generation in India has reached a total installed capacity of 17,174 MW as on 30.06.2010 (excluding large hydro).

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India is a leader in wind, biomass and solar PV sectors and ranks among the top ten countries of the world in renewable energy. India is the only country in the world which has a dedicated Ministry for Renewable Energy (Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, GoI), proactively creating an enabling environment for the sector to grow by rapidly bringing in innovative policy initiatives. The country is well poised to facilitate and advance the growth of renewable energy and enable to become one of the world leaders in all sectors of renewable energy in the coming years.Currently the Wind sector contributes a major portion of this capacity (12,010 MW) followed by the Small Hydro (2,767 MW). MNRE has ambitious plans for growth in all the RE sectors, Generate 20,000 MW from on-grid solar power by 2022 under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, Increase small hydro power addition from the present level of 300 MW / year to 500 MW / year in the next 3 years (Source http://mnre.gov.in/speeches/clean-energy-speech-23062010.pdf), Generation based incentive to increase wind energy by another 4000 MW in the years 2010 12 (end of 11th plan) (Source - http://mnre.gov.in/press-releases/press-release-17122009.pdf). While the growth in renewable energy is a step in the right direction, it poses few challenges and at the same time provides a plethora of opportunities. One of the major challenges is to meet the growing need for skilled manpower, both in terms of quality and quantity, in the renewable energy sector. KEY ISSUES RELATED TO MANPOWER IN INDIA: Some of the key issues related to manpower are the following: Availability of adequate skilled manpower The sector is facing challenges in sourcing skilled manpower in many functional areas like manufacturing, production, installation, operation & maintenance, marketing and research & development. As the sector is relatively new and fast growing, there is a shortage of experienced / skilled manpower. It is also important to note that the renewable energy sector is more manpower-intensive than the conventional energy sector. Attracting talent Though the sector has several qualified, competent and skilled manpower, it is not able to attract further talent, as the salaries / compensation packages offered by the RE industry are

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not comparable to those offered by other industries. There is also a general lack of awareness amongst the student community on the challenging career and entrepreneurial opportunities that exist in this sector. Training and capacity building The installation, operation and maintenance of Renewable energy systems need specific skills and knowledge. To impart this skill and knowledge to those entering the sector as well as continuously upgrading them, there is a need for training and capacity building. Currently there is a shortage of RE trainers, who can offer this service to the industry. CHAPTER 2 Expected future demand in different sectors and functional areas: In the case of India, the employment opportunities would increase many fold by the year 2015 (short term) and also by 2020 (medium term). A bottom -up approach has been adopted to arrive at the employment opportunities. The following table shows estimated employment considering moderate growth in each of the sectors as Scenario 1 and high growth as Scenario 2.

The employment is balanced and well distributed across all the major RE sectors and the functional areas of employment include design, installation, fabrication, operations and maintenance, project development and marketing. Future :

Table 2.1: Future Projections for Employment in Wind Energy Sub-sector It is estimated that, at a moderate growth of 10% the wind sector would employ about 75,000

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people by the year 2020 and going by the existing growth rate of 15% over the last two to three years, the sector would offer livelihood to 1,60,000 people by the year 2020. Solar PV On-grid The solar PV on-grid sub-sector is at a nascent stage in India. With the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) scheme of the Government of India, the installed capacity is estimated to reach 20 GW by the year 2022. This would create enormous employment opportunities in the country.

Table 2.2: Future projection for Solar PV on-grid employment

Considering the JNNSM targets, it is estimated that the Solar PV on-grid sector would employ 39,000 people by the year 2017 and 1,52,000 by the year 2022. It augurs well for the country in enhancing the installed solar energy capabilities and at the same time meet the social objective of creating new job opportunities. Solar PV Off-grid The country currently manufactures around 800 MW of solar panels, of which 90 % is catering to the export market. This sector today is estimated to have an employment of 72,000, including direct and indirect employment. Direct employment are those involved in manufacturing and assembly and the indirect employment comprises of dealers, marketing staff of dealers, lantern manufacturers, dealers and manufacturers of solar home lighting kits, battery manufacturers, lamp manufacturers

Table 2.3: Future Projections for Employment in Solar PV off-grid Sub-sector

Solar Thermal Off-grid As per the JNNSM target, India would install 15 million sq.m by the year 2017 and 20 million sq.m by the year 2020. To meet these targets, the sector is expected to grow at an annual rate of 17 % till 2022. The employment in the sector is also expected to grow at the same rate. The projected employment for meeting these targets is shown in Table:

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Table 2.4: Future Projections for Employment in Solar Thermal Sub-sector

Biomass On-grid Biomass sector is man-power intensive and employs a large population of semi-skilled and unskilled labour for fuel collection, loading & unloading and fuel processing.

Table 2.5: Future Projections for Employment in Biomass on-grid Sub-sector At 10 % growth rate, the sector would have about 62,500 people by 2015 and 1,00,000 people by 2020 vis--vis 35,000 of current employment. This sector has a potential to offer livelihood to a large section of the rural population. Biomass Gasifier Biomass gasifiers are predominantly de-centralized energy devices, mostly in KW size and are ideally suited for community and remote village electrification. This sector provides employment to the rural population in the areas of fuel collection, handling and operations. The individual capacities of gasifiers can vary over a wide range, starting from 1 KW to 50 KW. For estimating the current employment, typical size of each installation is considered as 20 kW.

Table 2.6: Future Projections for Employment in Biomass Gasifier Sub-sector

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Biogas Biogas sub-sector predominantly comprises of family size biogas plants. Currently about 41,20,000 units are installed in the country. Majority of people employed in this sub-sector are semi-skilled and unskilled. Since the family size biogas plants are invariably operated by occupants, jobs in operations is not considered while estimating the current and the future employment. This sector would however have a large part of the employment in servicing the installed biogas plants. Typical nature of such employment would include plumbing, burner service and maintenance.

Table 2.7: Future Projections for Employment in Biogas sector

Small hydro: The country has a total installed capacity of 2500 MW as on Dec 2009 in the small hydro subsector. It is estimated the sector current employs about 12,500 people.

CHAPTER 3 RE Curricula in Educational Institutions: Details of the institutions offering RE courses The AICTE database shows that, presently there are approximately 1346 engineering colleges in the country. Of these, only 52 engineering colleges offer courses on Energy Management in PG level, in which renewable energy is one of the major electives. Annexure-1 shows the state wise details of the colleges and Annexure-2 shows the details of the colleges, offering PG courses. Table 3.1 indicates the details of the engineering colleges offering RE courses.

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Table 3.1: Engineering colleges offering RE Courses at the PG level CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) interacted with several educational institutions and students to understand the current situation with regard to responses of the students on RE courses that are offered. Following are the key observations: It is estimated that every year more than 40,000 students pursue their Post Graduation Courses under various streams. The estimated number of students opting for Energy Management courses is only 910, which forms 2.25% of the PG students. Furthermore, only 60%-80% of the PG seats offered in Energy Management get filled. Out of these 910 students; more than 60% choose IT sector jobs as their career and majority of the rest are employed by industries / consultancy firms involved in Energy Management. Only very few students opts for renewable energy jobs. This shows that the actual number of students opting for renewable energy jobs is very less compared to the needs of the sector.

Table 3.2: Percentage of students pursing PG course in Energy Management

Major concerns and issues of the students From the students perspective, some of the major reasons for not opting for the RE courses at PG level are mentioned below: The salary packages are found to be low at the entry level in the renewable energy jobs. There are wide disparities within the sub-sectors of RE (For example: Salary packages for Wind and Solar sub-sectors are much higher than Biomass sub-sector) Off take of RE students into the industry through campus selections is minimal. (E.g. in the year 2010, only 2 RE companies have conducted campus recruitment) There is a perception that the career prospects in RE sector are not so attractive, compared to conventional manufacturing industries and IT sector. Awareness of the future growth potential of RE is low amongst the students. Major concerns and issues of the institutions While interacting with the institutions to identify the reason for lack of interest amongst students to undertake RE energy course, the following observations have emerged:

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Students who join the RE courses, do it out of their own passion in renewable energy. Campus interviews by reputed RE companies are non-existent or minimal, as compared to conventional industrial sectors. This could be one of the reasons for students not opting for RE courses. In the absence of any scholarships from the Government of India, many of the institutions are finding it difficult to attract students Being a relatively new area, renewable energy education largely suffers due to unavailability of resources (e.g. trained faculty, suitable course materials, laboratories etc.,)

Challenges faced by the industry To understand the key reasons for low in-take of students in RE sector, CII had interaction with major RE industries. Following are the key points which emerged out of these discussions: University courses curriculums do not meet the specific skill requirements of the RE industry. The curriculum of two institutions offering renewable energy courses is enclosed as Annexure-3. The curriculum must have greater focus on technology and design aspects. Also the institutions should provide extensive training and exposure on latest trends and technologies Some institutions absorb non-engineering graduates for PG courses in renewable energy. These students do not have sufficient engineering knowledge to meet the design and process requirements of the RE industry. Hence, the RE industry find it difficult to employ them There is a shortage of skilled ITI trained candidates who have exposure to RE The small and medium size RE industries face the problem of retaining candidates as the salaries of IT and manufacturing sectors are much higher. OFFERED COURSE DETAILS: M.Tech. (Renewable Energy) Master of Technology in Renewable Energy Duration: 2 Years Level: Post Graduation Type: Degree Eligibility: Graduate or Equivalent M.Tech. Renewable Energy or Master of Technology in Renewable Energy is post graduate Energy Engineering course. Renewable energy systems specialization is designed to provide scientists and engineers with specific training in advanced areas of renewable energy technology. The emphasis is on the design, analysis and implementation of energy systems, with particular emphasis on renewable energy systems. The renewable energy policy specialization is designed to provide environmental scientists and policy analysts with training in advanced areas of renewable energy technology and policy. The program aims to give
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students real-world technical expertise in strategic renewable energy disciplines, as well as an in-depth understanding of the issues associated with renewable energies and their development, including the short and medium-term technical, technological, geopolitical and environmental challenges.

M.Tech. Renewable Energy Eligibility B.E./ B.Tech. with at least 50% marks or Equivalent CGPA. Some reputed colleges and institutes do conduct entrance examination to get admission to Degree course. PG Diploma in Renewable Energy: Duration: 2 Years Level: Diploma after Graduation Type: Diploma Eligibility: Graduation P.G.D. Renewable Energy or Post Graduate Diploma in Renewable Energy is a postgraduate agricultural Engineering course. Renewable energy is an energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable (naturally replenished). The duration of Post Graduate Diploma in Renewable Energy is mostly of two academic years but it may vary from institute to institute and also may be on part time basis by certain institutes. The course syllabus is divided into two years. Diploma holders can get jobs in may field and also become teacher in the very subject. P.G.D. Renewable Energy Eligibility A bachelors degree in Mathematics/Physical Science/Technology or equivalent with minimum cumulative grade point average of 6.0 on a 10 point scale or equivalent, wherever letter grades are awarded, or 55% marks in aggregate (of all years/semesters of the qualifying examinations) wherever marks are awarded. Group discussions and personal interviews are also conducted generally to determine the personality traits and communication skills of the candidates. Apart from the entrance tests there are few institutions which conduct aptitude test individually which qualifies candidates for that particular business school.

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REFERENCES: [1].AICTE website:http://www.aicte-india.org/ [2].Green Jobs Towards Work in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon World, UNEP/ILO/ITUC [3].Human Resource Development Strategies for Indian Renewable Energy Sector(final report October 2010) [4].MNRE Achievements http://www.mnre.gov.in/ [5].http://mnre.gov.in/press-releases/press-release-17122009.pdf [6].http://mnre.gov.in/speeches/clean-energy-speech-23062010.pdf [7]. Rangan Banerjee, Development of draft model curriculum in renewable energy, submitted to MNES on August 2003. [8].http://www.iitb.ac.in/~es/about/downloads/RenCurr_MNES.pdf.)

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ANNEXURES:
Annexure 1:

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Annexure 2: Table 1: Institutes offering PG Level courses on Renewable Energy

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Contd.

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Contd.

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Annexure 3: Table 1: course structure guideline as per AICTE for Renewable Energy

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Table 2: Course structure of M.Tech at SMVD University(J&K)

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Table 3: Course structure of M.Tech at TERI (Delhi)

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