Master's in Renewable Energy is taught at the following universities: 

• IST: Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal
• KTH: Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
• École Polytechnique, Paris, France
• UPC: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech, Barcelona, Spain
  
  

The business and entrepreneurial elements of the programme are delivered by the international business school:

• ESADE Business School, Spain

Year 1

In the first year, you will take core modules in advanced technology concepts and methods in one of the four universities offered by the prgogramme, as well as in the production and utilisation of sustainable energy.

Master's in Renewable Energy covers the four sectors where the impact of renewables on costs, market volumes, CO₂ emissions, and network integration are greatest: wind, solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, and ocean energies. The programme also includes courses on the energy economy and markets, as well as energy and the environment, to give you a broad perspective on the potential of renewable energy.

Throughout your studies you will participate in Innovation Seminar at UPC: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech alongside our industrial and business partners, followed by ESADE Winter and Summer Schools.

Year 2

The second year is your chance to focus on the areas that interest you most. Students can choose from modules on the following areas of specialisation that will also determine which university you will attend:

• Solar photovoltaics
• Solar thermal electricity
• Wind energy
• Hydropower
• Ocean and offshore energy
• Biomass and biofuels
• Integration of renewable systems with the energy system

In Year 2 you will be able to select any out of the four universities offered by the programme. It will need to be different from your year 1 university.

Your Master’s thesis

You complete your second year with your Master’s thesis in the fourth and final semester. We strongly encourage you to undertake your thesis as part of an internship at one of our industrial or start-up partners, or at a research centre. Currently, more than 90 per cent of our students carry out their thesis at one of our partner companies.

Your thesis will be supervised by a professor at your university and a researcher from your host industrial or research partner. The thesis is worth 30 European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System credits (ECTS). It should be aligned with research or technology projects in renewable energy, and should have a strong practical element. We discourage theses that are 100 per cent research focused.

InnoEnergy continually strives to improve the quality, structure and content of our Master’s School programmes. Therefore, some changes may occur as part of our quality control process.

The RENE Master’s programme gives you plenty of chances to meet and engage with our industrial partners:

• A 2-day Innovation seminar, where you will get an opportunity to discuss successful examples of innovation.

As a core part of our programmes is to give you practical experience of bridging the gap between theory and practice we offer our students the opportunity to connect to industry:

• Engineering and Business Case®, a core part of the programme, offers three modules that you undertake over two years of study. This is the principle method for real-life interaction between students and companies in the renewable energy sector.
• Iberdrola Challenge, a competition for students and alumni, designed to encourage and promote a sustainable and energy-efficient society. Working individually or in a group, you can develop innovative, disruptive ideas in topics such as global affordable energy, new digital models in energy, and social economy for affordable energy. The winners are those with the most commercially viable potential for large-scale development.

At the end of the first semester, first-year students participate in a one-week ‘Winter School’ at the ESADE Business School in Barcelona. Here you will undertake courses on the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and innovation, including: Creative thinking, Innovation and strategy, Entrepreneurial finances, Marketing for start-ups and Intellectual property (IP) protection.

At the end of the first year, you return to ESADE for a three-week ‘Summer School’ that covers business and management topics in greater depth, including: Personal and professional skills, New venture creation, New product development and service innovation, Managing high-performance teams, Operations management and Corporate entrepreneurship.

After completing this course, you should be able to tackle and prepare a business plan, manage innovation in a company or even create your own start-up.

More than 25 companies are currently involved in MSc RENE, including: Total, Electricité de France (EdF), Energias de Portugal (EDP), Iberdrola, Gas Natural Fenosa, Meyer Burger, COMSA Corporación, Alstom Wind, AEInnova, CorPower Ocean AB, EOLOS, Principle Power Inc, Siarq, Smalle Technologies, and Tecnoturbines.

In particular, you will gain:

• Broad knowledge of sustainable energy systems and sources, and the ability to judge the technical, economical, social, and environmental impacts of each.
• Deep understanding of individual renewable energy technologies, as well as energy management, planning, economy and market contexts.
• Analytical capabilities, enabling you to formulate and manage technical problems from a system perspective and to solve problems around energy conversion, transportation, storage and utilisation.
• Interpersonal skills, including leadership, project management, team working, business management, and communication.

After successfully completing the programme, you will receive a degree from each of your chosen universities:

• IST: Master of Energy Engineering and Management
• KTH: Master of Science, fromKTH: Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
• École Polytechnique: Graduate Degree Programme in Energy Environment: Science Technology and Management (STEEM)
• UPC: Master of Energy Engineering

You also receive a diploma from ESADE.

The EIT Label is a quality seal awarded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) to a KIC educational programme that has been assessed positively by the EIT on the implementation of the EIT Quality Assurance and Learning Enhancement (EIT QALE) system and the application of specific quality criteria with focus on the EIT Overarching Learning Outcomes (EIT OLOs), robust entrepreneurship education, highly integrated, innovative ‘learning-by-doing’ curricula, international mobility and outreach. For more information please check here.