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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Solar Energy Basics by The State University of New York

4.8
stars
2,473 ratings

About the Course

This course gives you an introduction to the fundamentals of solar power as it applies to solar panel system installations. You will learn to compare solar energy to other energy resources and explain how solar panels, or photovoltaics (PV for short), convert sunlight to electricity. You will be able to identify the key components needed in a basic photovoltaic (solar panel) system, such as is found on a house or building, and explain the function of each component in the system. You will also learn how to calculate the electrical demand of a building, how to reduce the overall demand, and then how to design a solar panel system that can meet that annual demand at a given location. You will also compare the different types of pricing models that are being used and key regulatory considerations for grid tied systems (where a house or building is connected to the electrical grid and also generates electricity from solar panels). A capstone design project that entails both the simple audit of a building to determine demand, and a selection of components to design a solar panel system to meet that demand....

Top reviews

EL

Oct 4, 2020

Aprendi mucho en este curso. Los videos explicativos del profesor hacen que todo sea de facil entendimiento. El conocimiento adquirido he podido aplicarlo en mi actual area de trabajo. Muy recomendado

A

Jun 17, 2020

I would like to thank you and your team for this great course, I'm really appreciated, it was very helpful as starting in this field, and I will be the first one who will take all your next courses

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676 - 700 of 811 Reviews for Solar Energy Basics

By Sriram S

Oct 9, 2020

The video content and quizzes were great. They covered a lot of information and concepts to build a strong base on solar energy. The instructor was very elaborative and the speed of the content delivered was perfect.

The downside of the course is that you are not given any study material and few concepts are purely based on the US. Since there are many students from countries other than the US, I would like to suggest to have content which supports students from all countries. Example of such content is the 'certifications available for PV system'. Few essential tools could have been enlisted for further help in PV sizing calculations.

Overall, the course is valuable for building the basics in solar energy.

By Andrés V

Jun 14, 2020

it is a good training for introduction to Solar Energy design and installation.

However, it was expected to have modules about design the complete PV system, including Inverter DC/AC selection, battery charger selection, battery backup system calculation, orientation of panels, solar panels connection options depending on building orientation...

Maybe a second course would be highly appreciated, a course which involves all the mentioned topics.

Thanks!

By Andras H

Mar 29, 2020

Hello,

i am András from Hungary. I enjoyed this course very much, it was clearly understandable and provided a very good overview on this topic. I am working with PV for a while now as a projectmanager and investor. This course gave me lot of useful information on the background, because i was mainly focusing on the financial side till now.

This is a very good course for those who need basic info.

The Forum should be a bit more active.

Regards,

András

By Julio C G

Jun 16, 2020

I expected to learn more indeed about how to design a photovoltaic system and what components to use depending on the size of the system (PV modules, Charge Controllers, Power inverter, Batteries for energy storage, Meters, and miscellaneous components like wiring, cables, connectors, conduit and brackets). Over all is a good course. I learned a lot because I didn't know anything about Solar Energy. Instructor Neal Abrams explains very good.

By MEHUL S

Jun 23, 2020

The course is very good for mechanical engineering undergrads because it's covers the essential aspects, leaving the solar cell electronics realm and giving a good overview of energy and insolation conceptions. The only disappointment is that it does only focus on United States when it comes to insolation maps, or careers and certifications in solar energy. This should be corrected for the international students.

By Egor S

Apr 26, 2020

The course starts off with great depth of detail. The instructor is clear and well spoken. Material is divided well into clear sections. My only complaint is that the last couple of weeks were less useful than the first three, in which PV system basics were very well covered. I feel the course could have done more to cover system design and BOS concepts.

By Christina M

Jul 27, 2020

Pretty happy with course until I finished module 1 quiz and could not submit it unless I upgraded to a certificate. I have taken several Courses on here and it is the first one I could not submit a quiz without upgrading... Felt like a bait and switch. I am learning for my own growth not for a certificate!

By Gihan I

Apr 19, 2021

Neal Abrams does a very good job to simplify and explain the course. I learnt much on this course and I recommend it to anyone wanting to understand the basics. But one issue I had is that it is structured for the American student and not for an international student. This was a turn-off to me.

By Patrick L

Nov 5, 2021

I would like to thank your team and you for this great course, I learned a lot and really appreciated the time and effort for making this course so interesting.

I have one last request, could you or your team kindly re-issue the certificate for me as the name is wrongly reflected. Thanks.

By MOHAMMAD H

Sep 30, 2022

I found the course very interesting and the instructor explained each topic very thoroughly. My only problem was the content of week 4. I think history of solar energy was dragged and should only been covered in a single lecture, but overall the course was very interesting.

By Andrew L

Dec 20, 2021

A good course although it needed a little bit of a better explanation on how to calculate the number of required solar panels what are the different types of solar irradiance maps and how to use them and there was no information about loss of efficiency of PV over time.

By DEEPTHIKA .

Oct 19, 2020

These basics about renewable energy sources like utilization of solar nergy in the form of solar panels and PV systems, modules is very much useful in designing and understanding more about solar energy!! Great it was a good experience... Nice work Coursera 👍👌

By Camilo A E G

Jul 6, 2020

The course has an interesting overview of Solar Energy, however, during the course, the instructor mentions other courses to complete a non-existent specialization. As a student, I was disappointed because I paid the course to continue the specialization.

By Hernan D G R

Feb 13, 2020

I have enjoyed the course, they gave us a good information for starting in this beautiful work, I recommend it, I love if they give us more information about the array but it is a good beginning. I hope to study more details in the next courses.

By vijaya a n

Aug 2, 2020

There is some thing to be concentrated on review of projects. What i think is some are simply rejcting becuase thier project are not submitted or not checking the project in detail. Hence i request pay some attention in this regard.

By Jj O

Oct 25, 2020

I don't like the final project was scored or checking for other students, I mean, It would be better if we got feedback from an expert or for the person who created this course,

by the way, It was really good also really helpful

By Rohan B G

Jun 28, 2020

Great course with all the required exercises and easy to understand. provided all the basics and the knowledge of photovoltaic s as well as energy consumption and one more helpful thing about course was the capstone project.

By Vikas R P

Sep 26, 2020

Complete knowledge about solar energy. Learn to calculate load, sun hour, array size.

Best thing is course test contains less MCQ, more logical and math questions.

Project improves confidence in the field of solar energy.

By Atharva A G

Jul 20, 2020

It's a Amazing course with very deep knowledge and information about solar enrgy and photovoltaics.If you are a beginner or a expert in this field no matter this course will absolutely made you expert in solar energy .

By Mamuka M

Sep 11, 2020

I learned about Solar Energy Basics. Starting from equipment and materials that are used, followed by principles of operation and completed by selection of PV Modules for specific buildings based on Energy demand.

By Aditya W

Jul 10, 2020

the course content is very good for starting off from basics of solar photovoltaics. concepts are explained properly. assignment problem and quizzes were also very interesting. real recommendable.

By SUSHIL Y

May 18, 2020

Nice course, got to learn many new things. Previously very few knowledge about solar energy. but after taking this course, i learnt a lot of things, PV modules, efficiency, insoaltion, STC etc.

By Kurt K

Apr 9, 2022

Overall good course. I would have gotten more out of this course if it included a sample spreadsheet with the basic calculations or some sort of tool to help guide the needed calculations.

By Christian C

Jul 21, 2023

Great course for introduction to PV systems. PDF of text documents with course literature should be provided to support learning offline and future review.