Effective Low-budget Approach to Teaching Photovoltaic Systems to Electrical Engineering Technology Students at Community Colleges

Abstract

This paper presents a unique approach to introduction of the photovoltaic course and corresponding laboratory into the Electrical Engineering Technology program at the two-year college level implemented at Erie Community College in Buffalo, NY. This approach uses the middle ground between the extremely technical courses for photovoltaic systems at four-year colleges and universities and the more simplified approach to photovoltaic systems at the trade level targeting PV installers. It balances the necessity of rigorous theoretical overview of PV components and their behavior under different weather and load conditions, with requirements of significant hands-on course/lab component, and with strict budgetary constraints common to two-year schools. The course methodology, its presentation, and laboratory design are briefly outlined in this paper.

Hands-on Learning of Commercial Electrical Wiring Practices for Electrical Engineering Students Through Two-University Cooperative Effort

“…They get an astonishingly great experience for their students for the money. 5 The best all-around electrical distribution engineering experience and equipment in an engineering college is at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. They have a complete hands-on experience as well as analysis of existing installation in a beautiful laboratory setting.…”