Course Content

This course consists of 8 units, which are divided into two main topics: Grid and Energy.
In the previous academic year (2023/24), there were 370 participants in this course.

The following topics are covered in this online course:

• Energy conservation law, conversion of energy and power
  kWh vs. kW, manifestations of energy, rules of thumb for energy content, efficiency of various forms of energy conversion.

• Current, voltage, electric power, Ohm's law
  Basic equations of electricity: voltage(U) - current(I) - power (P) - energy(W)

• Grid control
  Network frequency and power balance, centrifugal pendulum, reserve power through flywheel masses, primary, secondary and tertiary control, storage, grid islands

• Power plants
  Steam power plants, gas power plants, hydro power plants, wind power plants, photovoltaics

• Three-phase current and synchronicity
  Synchronous generator vs. inverter, √3-factor for voltages

• Redispatch - generation-side power balancing
  Balancing power, balancing energy, fluctuating power flows, restrictions and redispatch

• Load shifting and load adjustment
  consumption-side power balancing through load shifting, smart meters, load management, load shedding as brute external load control

• Blackout due to energy shortage
  Area disconnection vs. forced underfrequency disconnection of generation facilities (self-protection takes precedence over external protection)

• Load response of grid users
  Overlay of load response, importance of self-generation, centralised vs. decentralised generators, load response and duration curve

• Current flow and transmission capacity Parallel and series connection, design of grid components according to peak load, design guidelines, grid structure for transport and distribution, voltage levels, transformer

• Voltage, reactive power, power quality
  Voltage band at load and feed-in, reactive power, possible voltage disturbances, remedies, grid internal resistance and redundancy

• Network tasks and devices (hardware in networks)
  Overhead lines, cables, low voltage, transformers, local network distribution stations and substations, instrument transformers and protective devices

• Mains faults
  Short circuit, earth fault, overcurrent protection, differential protection, distance protection

• Personal safety in the low-voltage grid
  Load current vs. residual current, direct / indirect contact, TN vs. IT grid, three-stage protection concept, fuse / FI switch

• Blackout due to lack of transmission capacity
  Cascade tripping, redundancy and (n-1) operation, local backup power

• Blackout due to loss of synchronicity
  Loss of synchronising voltage, out-of-step traps, fault explanation time

Course Goals

After completing the online course, the participants know the mode of operation and some key points of the electrical energy system. They will be familiar with terms such as current flow, loads of grid users, transmission capacity, grid control, load shifting and blackout and will be able to explain these terms and their interrelationships in the context of the electrical energy system in general terms.

Previous Knowledge

A general education is sufficient to join the course. The course is explicitly aimed at laypersons, prospective students and first-year students who would like to gain a basic knowledge of electrical power engineering or refresh their knowledge before starting a course of study in this field. English skills might be needed to follow the videos. The course videos are spoken in English, but subtitles are available.

Course Procedure

Certificate

For actively participating in the course you will receive an automatic certificate which includes your username, the course name as well as the completed lessons. We want to point out that this certificate merely confirms that the user answered at least 75% of the self-assessment questions correctly.

Licence

This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0