Revolutionize
solar education
Solar PV is undergoing explosive growth, exceeding even the most optimistic forecasts due to dramatic reduction in costs. Within the next decade the market for solar PV will expand by another factor of 10 which brings a strong need for fast-paced, high quality training.
Australia has 50 years of research and 20 years of delivering dedicated photovoltaic training to over 2100 students world-wide. To meet the new extremely rapid growth in solar PV manufacturing globally, a new, fast-paced training program is required. UNSW, the ANU and RMIT in Australia are partnering to deliver this training program to students within Australia and globally.
Our mission is to deliver modular courses that can be undertaken either as a fast-track degree program or in a modular format of two-week courses for staff who are already working in industry. The training centre will provide practical hands-on experience for solar PV and module manufacturing, testing, and reliability with applications in the built environment and utility-scale power plants.
Within Australia, the Training Centre will meet the needs of the SunShot program that seeks to bring the manufacturing of solar PV to Australia. In March 2024, the Federal Australian government established the SunShot program, putting $1bn towards domestic manufacturing of solar PV. The value that will be returned from Australia’s investment in solar PV manufacturing hinges on the availability of a skilled workforce.
Globally the pace of manufacturing and innovation in the solar energy sector similar requires a steady flow of skilled and capable staff which this Training Centre seeks to support.
Solar PV Training
Silicon PV Fabrication Summer School
January 2024
Students made their own silicon solar module, taking a wafer through the full cell process, including diffusion, PECVD passivation, screen-printing, contact firing and laminating it into a module. Students were introduced to characterisation techniques to determine wafer resistivity, dopant profile, minority carrier lifetime, quantum efficiency and light-IV.
The students loved the course and appreciated the opportunity to put their knowledge into practice almost immediately.
Modelling Solar Cells in Python
November 2023
UNSW leads the development of two open-source, python based PV software packages: Solcore and RayFlare. We PV computer simulation workshops coding workshops to help researchers to become proficient in using these simulation tools that are particularly well suited for understanding the optical behaviour of tandem solar cells.
The course received universal acclaim from students at all levels of python coding ability.
ARC Industrial Transformation Research Partnership
Proposal to Australian Research Council
In November 2024, UNSW, ANU & RMIT will bid to the Australian Research Council to develop a new suite of targetted training courses to ensure the skills required to manufacture solar PV technologies quickly and efficiently are available.
Our passion for teaching :
UNSW, ANU RMIT in Australia have formed a unique partnership to accelerate the development, manufacturing and adoption of cutting edge PV technologies.
The School of Photovoltaic & Renewable Energy Engineering at UNSW has already trained over 2100 students and has alumni working in the PV industry globally. We are passionate about both creating new solar technologies and delivering the highest quality hands-on training and education possible.
Get in Touch
Excited about the possibilities of solar PV? Share your details with us, and we will reach out promptly. We are eager to engage with you!