Solar Engineering Course Free

[Brett V]

I have used Alison online courses for several years now in both my professional and personal life. I'm in no way affiliated with Alison but wanted to pass on the availability of this online course that may be of interest to some. The structure of the training is self paced and relevant. The knowledge presented and course content is free, they only require payment if you wish to receive an actual diploma and course transcript for professional reasons.

Solar Energy Engineering Diploma | Free Online Course | Alison

Solar energy is a growing field. This free course shows you how to collect and store the sun's energy, calculate solar radiation and design photovoltaic cells.

alison.com

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Not poo-pooing this, but I want to provide feedback for those considering it.

I took this course and almost completely went through it in the hour they gave me to get 20% off the diploma.

I failed one module the first time at 67% vs. 80% (equation heavy, stuff I mostly skimmed) then passed with 93% (purely from remembering wrong answers) second test with 95% and then the overall with 88% (I think there was a third quiz I passed, but I don't remember for sure). I should have done better as I biffed two answers I truly knew, so in my heart, I got a 92%...

Obviously, I skimmed and skipped a LOT of stuff as there is 10-15 HOURS of materials here.

Most of this course is rendered moot by resources like PVWatts, JRC and others, but for those that want to learn all the nitty-gritty of how solar cells work, theory, math, calculating stuff, etc. - most of which is completely irrelevant to a practical implementation of solar, it's great. If you want to gain insight into how to build or implement a system, it's not very useful.

$100 for a digital certificate. Going to pass on this one unless I change careers and this matters to someone willing to pay me

 

[Brett V]

As is the case with most education, it’s rarely more than 25% useful in the real world. It’s good if you need to pad a résumé or kiss up to the boss for your annual review. I’m not a good student and prefer to learn by the hands on method. My intent was to simply put the resource out there for anyone who would be interested.