Educational and research challenges and opportunities related to renewable energy

With growing concerns for the environment and sustainability, renewable energy is receiving significant attention. As penetration of renewable energy increases there will be need for well qualified people for the workforce of the future to address the new challenges. Many in the current generation of students have only a passing knowledge of sustainability and few understand the fundamental technology issues related to renewable energy and emission reduction. Hence, there is need to prepare the next generation of electrical and computer engineers to meet the growing needs in alternate energy and sustainability, while revising the ECE curriculum to aid in recruitment of future students needed for this new workforce. In addition to educational issues, there are many research challenges and opportunities for wide scale integration of renewable energy into power systems. This paper discusses activities at Kansas State University to educate students on the concepts of sustainability. and renewable energy. This is followed by research challenges. related to renewable energy.