LEARNING WIND ENERGY WITH THE USE OF A VIRTUAL WIND TURBINE

Large scale wind energy integration is becoming a fact as social concerns on clean and sustainable energy increase. In many countries like Germany, Spain, Denmark, etc., new grid codes have been established. These new rules are continuously evolving and conditioning wind turbine and wind farm design. The industry is boosting the demand for qualified electrical, electronic and control engineers that can understand and face up to the difficulties of such a variety of disciplines. This fact is motivating universities to provide courses that enable engineers and researchers to meet the challenges they will face in their professional careers.

Traditional lectures and laboratory teaching do not seem to be an optimal approach for such a dynamic and complex field, where the ability to engage in self-directed lifelong learning is considered a need.

Many educational institutions are introducing its subject into their engineering studies. Problem-based learning (PBL), as a student-centered instructional approach, has contributed to important developments in engineering education over the last years. This paper presents the experience of a problem-based learning approach within the context of teaching wind energy conversion systems for electricity generation, at electrical and electronic master degree level. The students were proposed to study the complete model of a wind turbine: aerodynamic, mechanical, electrical and control systems; while defining and solving their own problem. Groups of three students worked in a cooperative learning project for 15 weeks, with the instructor providing resource assistance and information at all stages of the work. The results show that the students valued the virtual wind turbine as a tool and were able to address problems at a high cognitive level.