Syllabus

• Week 1

  Energy Efficiency

  • Introduction

    Welcome to this first week together! After a brief introduction you will start reflecting on Global Energy & Energy Efficiency issues with Schneider Electric and Grenoble Ecole de Management's experts.

  • What are the global energy challenges?

    In this activity, Joachim Schleich presents today’s global energy challenges: the energy demand and supply, the social challenges of the energy system and the transformation towards a sustainable energy system.

  • How is policy fostering energy efficiency?

    We will now consider the issue of energy efficiency: what it is, what the benefits of energy efficiency are and why we do need energy efficiency policy. We will conclude with some examples of famous energy-efficiency policies.

  • What are the key energy efficiency markets and trends?

    We continue with an overview of the energy efficiency markets and trends. It presents some key figures on the saving made possible with the current energy efficiency policies and activities.

  • Why “prosumers” are the cornerstone of the energy transition?

    For this fourth activity of this week, let us look at the new role of "prosumer", the active consumers, for a more efficient energy production and consumption.

  • Why is the digital revolution driving the innovation on the energy efficiency market?

    No sector has been untouched by the digital revolution. We will now see why it is crucial to energy efficiency, thus introducing the concept of smartgrids (in which we will dig deeper in the last chapter of the course).

• Week 2

  Solar Energy & Hydropower

  • SOLAR: What are the different ways of converting solar energy?

    Every part of the world receives energy from the sun. This activity will tell you about possible use of solar energy: heating, high-temperature heating and electricity production through PV photovoltaics.

  • SOLAR: What is happening in the solar PV market?

    For the second activity about Solar Energy, we are interested in the PV market: its perspective of growth and its competitive advantages.

  • SOLAR: What are the economics and the competitiveness of solar energy?

    We continue our exploration of solar energy with a presentation of the photovoltaic business model. We move from a traditional model of consumption of resources to produce energy (coal, oil ...) to a model of investment in "free".

  • SOLAR: What is the market and stage of development of solar energy in the world ?

    In the second activity, we saw some elements related to the PV market. We now consider the question of grid parity : when will it be reached? Which countries are leading, and which ones are lagging ?

  • SOLAR: Who are the main industrial actors and key markets in solar PV?

    In this activity, we will see what is the value chain of solar photovoltaic, as well as its main stakeholders in Europe. We will therefore talk about the composition of solar panels, and its some of its producers.

  • SOLAR: What are the trends and innovations for the future?

    To conclude, a focus on photovoltaic innovation trends. We outline four main points: improving the efficiency of solar panels, producing them at a lower cost, optimizing their installation, and optimizing production.

  • HYDROPOWER: What is hydropower and what are the different kinds of hydropower turbine and dam?

    Let’s start with a brief introduction on what is hydropower. In this activity, we present the basic operation of a hydropower plant, as well as the main models of dams and turbines at use today.

  • HYDROPOWER: What are the challenges of hydropower development?

    Hydropower can be stored and used on demand, depending on the needs and the production of other energy sources. What are the current challenges about development to improve the efficiency of hydropower facilities?

  • HYDROPOWER: Why is hydropower a key asset in new energy markets, storage & flexibility?

    In this activity, Olivier Teller, product director in GE Hydro will present the contribution from Hydropower in the energy market: increasing the renewable energy production, providing energy storage and providing regulation.

  • HYDROPOWER: What are the facts and figures and who are the main actors?

    For our fourth activity on Hydropower, we will come back to the organization of the hydropower market: what are the key figures, which are the main actors in France and in the world.

  • HYDROPOWER: What can be the impact and development of ocean and tidal energy?

    Let's focus on tidal energy. It will be treated in four points: what it is, what the main benefits and drawbacks are, how important it is, and what the main drivers and barriers of this technology are.

  • HYDROPOWER: What are the innovations in hydropower?

    At the beginning of this topic, we talked about the current challenges of hydropower development. We now finish it with the innovation trends in the hydro-electric sector, the infrastructure and the equipment.

  • What about wind energy?

    Wind energy is a key issue in the energy transition. Even though it is not one of the 6 main topics covered in this course, in this activity we are sharing with you key references and reading tips.

• Week 3

  Biogas & Hydrogen Energy

  • BIOGAS: What is biomass energy & why biogas?

    What is biomass energy and why use biogas? We will answer those questions in this activity by talking about fossil fuels, CO2 emissions, carbon cycle, climate change and natural gas.

  • BIOGAS: What is anaerobic digestion (methanisation)?

    In the second activity of the week on biogas, we look at methanisation. We will consider which technologies are used for methanisation and what valorisation can be done with this product.

  • BIOGAS: What are the different usages/applications of biogas?

    We continue here to consider the valorization of biogas. We will see the direct usages of biogas: heat and electricity production. We will also talk about its conversion into biomethane, a renewable substitute for natural gas.

  • BIOGAS: What is the biogas market in France and in Europe?

    In this activity, Delphine GARNAUD will introduce the biogas market structure by answering two questions: what are the activities in the market, and how big is it? This will cover notions of the waste market and the energy market.

  • BIOGAS: Who are the main actors in this market?

    We will now enter a bit deeper in our study of the biogas market by presenting the main actors in this market. To this end, we will follow the chain of actors involved in a biogas production project.

  • BIOGAS: What are the innovation projects in this field?

    We now conclude our chapter on Biogas. This last activity will deal with the innovations in the industry studied this week: biogas.

  • HYDROGEN: What are hydrogen and hydrogen-energy?

    In this first activity we invite you to discover the history of hydrogen, its main properties, and why it is interesting to use it as a fuel.

  • HYDROGEN: What are the challenges regarding hydrogen development/production from renewables?

    Hydrogen is often combined with other chemical elements. This activity presents the main technologies for isolating it from different atoms, as well as the possible technical pathways in this regard.

  • HYDROGEN: How can hydrogen be an energy storage solution?

    After hydrogen production, we will discuss its storage. Hydrogen is a very light gas in normal atmospheric conditions, making its storage and transport a real challenge. There are two possibilities: compression and liquefaction.

  • HYDROGEN: How is hydrogen used for energy applications?

    Now that we know how to produce and store hydrogen, we will see what use can be made of it in the field of energy. We will, therefore, present fuel cells: their history, their operation, and the different technologies.

  • HYDROGEN: Who are the main actors on the market in France and in Europe?

    In the fifth activity of this week, we are interested in the actors in the hydrogen market, both for hydrogen production and hydrogen applications in grid management, stationary applications or transport applications.

  • HYDROGEN: What are the innovation projects, road-maps, trends and milestones?

    As in previous chapters, we conclude with a presentation of innovations and trends for hydrogen-energy, including some startups, the power to gas, the cost evolution and some major R&D and demonstration projects.

• Week 4

  Smart Grids

  • What is a smart grid?

    This first activity explains what smart grids are. To this end, we will discuss three points: the drivers for the event of smart grids, definitions of smart grids, and the value-chain of smart grids.

  • How will smart grids be connected with smart buildings and smart cities?

    Let us dive a bit in the technical part. In this activity, we will try to understand how to make a grid smarter. This is: understanding how a better management of the power distribution will contribute to the energy transition.

  • Why are smart grids a key element of the future electricity system?

    The purpose of smart grids is to optimize flexibility on large areas to get the best cost for the end user. Let's see why and how in this activity.

  • What are the links between smart grids and storage?

    We follow on our discovery of the topic with the link between smart grids and storage. We discuss the special characteristics of storage, the panel of technologies, the business models and an extension of the storage vision.

  • Who are the main actors of the smart grid in France and Europe?

    In the fifth activity of the week, we will discuss 3 key aspects of the smart grid: its value chain, the organizational challenges it poses and the issues of cost-benefit analysis and investment decisions.

  • What are the trends and innovation projects in the smart grids field?

    We now come to the last activity of our MOOC. It concludes with an opening on the future trends and innovation projects in Smart Grids for the future in France.

Who will you learn with?