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Teaching Energy for Sustainable World

The project “Teaching Energy for Sustainable World” (SustEner, 2011-1-CZ1-LEO05-07487) is funded by the EU “Lifelong Learning Programme” “Leonardo da Vinci - Transfer of innovation” and will run from 01.12.2011 to 30.11.2013. EneSys participates as a project partner.


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About the project:

SustEner originates from the recognition of the enormous societal, economic and technological potential of a European sustainable, low-carbon economy, and from the range of scientific and non-technical challenges preventing the realization of this vision. The purpose of SustEner is to modernize Sustainable El. Energy vocational training by enhancing existing or establishing new training methods in enterprises and education. Up-to-date knowledge and educational methods developed in previous projects will be brought directly from the educational institutions to industry and VET institutes. Different topics of sustainable energy education are already developed by the partners. Transfer of this knowledge between partners and to the target group as well as an accommodation for the needs of target groups is the first goal of the project. The proposal seeks to adapt and transfer pedagogical materials.
The second goal is a transfer of technologies developed during previous projects listed below to learning material of sustainable energy. The project team collaborated in the previous Leonardo projects “Interactive and Unified E-Based Education and Training in Electrical Engineering”, where number of interactive modules with animations were prepared. The attained results are unique and of a great pedagogical value. Due to the employed technology the usage in education is extremely flexible. In the project "E-learning Distance Interactive Practical Education" a number of distance laboratories is developed. The solution consisted in redesigning hardware experiments so that they also can be accessed by the Web. The technology and Innovation developed during these projects will be transferred to a new area of Sustainable Electrical Energy and Power. A number of high quality learning modules delivering knowledge are going to be prepared by partners from educational institutions. All modules will address specific local knowledge and skills needs of industrial partners.
Altogether at least 9 practically oriented modules with remote experiments and/or interactive animation material will be offered in a modern learning portal. Provided contents and learning functionalities will enable employees/apprentices/trainees to acquire new professional skills and enhance their job performance. Successful integration of developed technology applied to a new field is planned to realize within framework of the Project.



The project aims are:

  • to find out which are by industry required specialized knowledge and skills in Sustainable Energy/engineering
  • to adapt practically oriented learning modules
  • to enhance and modernize training methods by incorporation of content/functionalities available in advanced learning methods such as interactive animations or distance laboratories
  • to adapt alternative energy sources learning modules and stimulate shift toward low‐carbon industry
  • to support community of professionals and strengthen links between VET and industry


The Institute for Power Systems Technology and Power Mechatronics (EneSys) will prepare the learning module titled: Renewable Energy - Wind energy conversion and control



Summary of the module:

The extensive use of fossil fuels as energy source has caused a dramatic increase of pollution levels in the Earth’s atmosphere. Especially CO2 emissions contribute to global warming, due to the greenhouse effect. The threat that this imposes on the Earth’s climate, as well as the depletion and increasing price of fossil fuels raises the need to replace conventional power generation with renewable energy sources. A wide range of technologies exist which convert freely available natural resources such as hydro, wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and waves. In the field of renewable energies, wind energy is the fastest growing technology with about 30% annual increase in installed capacity over the period 2004-2011 and with the largest total installed capacity (215 Gigawatts by 2011) after hydroelectric power. In Europe, wind power generation is expected to contribute to EU’s 2020 targets for reduction of CO2 emissions by more than 30%. Over the last decades wind energy conversion technology has developed impressively and it is now proven both technically and commercially.
In this module, the basic operating principles of a wind energy conversion system and its control will be described. The focus will be on the doubly-fed induction generator(DFIG) turbine, that it is currently the most widely-used type for grid-connected wind power generation. Firstly, individual elements of the DFIG system such as the aerodynamic rotor, induction machine, power electronic converters and the control will be presented in separate chapters. In the final experiment all the elements will be integrated to demonstrate the general operation of the wind turbine system and how each one contributes to the wind energy conversion process.
Essential theoretical background will be provided in every chapter and the operating principles will be presented in the form of interactive animated virtual experiments. In the experiments the user can adjust parameters and their effect can be studied through the interactive animations. They will be implemented using JAVA, such allowing parallel use on a virtually unlimited number of computers.


Contact: Dipl.-Ing. Frederik Einwächter






This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.