Energy Engineering

Overview

PLEASE NOTE: Admission to the program in Energy Engineering duirng the 2022-2023 academic year is managed by the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano.

The program is geared to preparing a professional figure able to address complex and advanced problems of energy engineering and/or requiring an interdisciplinary approach in the design, implementation, management, and upgrading of production systems, transport, and efficient use of energy.

The Master’s program starts in September and officially lasts 2 academic years.

The official teaching language is English. Optional courses will be offered in Italian and German with the contribution of academic staff from the Faculty of Engineering Science of the University Innsbruck.

Program Overview

The University of Trento has adopted the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). ECTS is based on the convention that 60 credits measure the workload of a full-time student during one academic year. A university credit point corresponds to 25 hours of work per student, time for the personal study included.

Students’ activities within the master’s degree in Energy Engineering consist of lectures and class/lab practice. One credit corresponds to at least 10 teaching hours. The assessment method is based on written and oral examinations and applicative projects.

Students must obtain in total 120 ECTS, partly at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano and partly at the University of Trento. In addition to the mandatory subjects, a range of optional courses will be offered.

There is no compulsory attendance, but the attendance of lessons, exercise classes, and lab work is strongly recommended.

All lectures and seminars will take place in the main premises of the Free University of Bolzano-Bozen, at the Faculty of Science and Technology in Bolzano, and at the University of Trento, Department of Civil, Environmental, and Mechanical Engineering.

After completing the courses in the study plan, students are required to write and discuss the final thesis, worth 15 ECTS, in order to be awarded the Master’s degree.

Curriculum

• Electrical Systems Engineering (6 credits) 
• Fluid Machines Engineering (9 credits)
• Engineering Thermodynamics, Heat, and Mass Transfer (6 credits) 
• Environmental Fluid Mechanics/ Hydropower Plants (9 credits):    
• Environmental Fluid Mechanics (4 credits) 
• Hydropower Plants (5 credits) 

• Building HVAC Systems (9 credits)
• Advanced Applications of Building Physics (9 credits)
• Electric Power Conversion Equipment (6 credits)
• One exam from the following two subjects:
• Italiano Tecnico / Technisches Italienisch (3 credits)
• Tedesco Tecnico / Technisches Deutsch (3 credits)

Second year

• Power Production, CHP and District Heating Systems (12 credits):
• Thermal Engines (6 credits) 
• Thermal power production and distribution (6 credits)
• Curriculum Technologies for Energy Efficiency
• Special Issues of Building Physics (6 credits)
• Applied Mechanics and Technologies for Energy Efficiency (12 credits):
• Technologies and Production Processes for Energy Engineering (6 credits)
• Functional Mechanical Design for Energy Efficiency (6 credits)
• Curriculum Renewable and Innovative Technologies for Energy Supply
• Hydropower and Wind power systems (12 credits):
• Wind powers systems (6 credits)    
• Hydropower systems (6 credits)        
• One exam from the following subjects:
• Mechanics and Structural Design for Energy Engineering (6 credits):     
• Fundamentals of Structural Mechanics (3 credits)    
• Fundamentals of Structural Design (3 credits)    
• Advanced Materials for Energy Engineering (6 credits)

• Curriculum Technologies for Energy Efficiency
• District heating system design (6 credits)
• Curriculum Renewable and Innovative Technologies for Energy Supply
• One exam from the following two subjects:    
• Electrochemical energy storage and conversion (6 credits)
• Bioenergy (6 credits)

• Optional Subjects (12 credits)
• Master degree thesis (15 credits)

There is no compulsory attendance, but the attendance of lessons, exercise classes, and lab work is strongly recommended. The course concludes with the writing and discussion of a thesis. The Faculty will provide a separate set of regulations for this. All lectures and seminars will take place in the main premises of Unibz, at the Faculty of Science and Technology in Bozen - Bolzano, and at the University of Trento, Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering. 

Program Outcome

Career Opportunities

The course aims at training experts able to deal with the various aspects of planning, implementing, and managing the integrated energy systems, such as production plants supplied from renewable sources, low energy consumption buildings, and networks able to transport electric and thermic energy from the production site to the local consumption sites. Energy engineers will work as independent professionals or in public and private companies, industries of the energetic and thermo-energetic sectors, and public and private utilities.

Graduates can access the level of Doctoral Schools.