The master's programme in Sustainable Energy Engineering provides advanced education in solar energy, power generation, energy utilisation and transformation of energy systems. Students gain a multidisciplinary foundation in energy engineering and skills to manage complex energy-related problems with a lifecycle perspective. Graduates lead the development in the energy sector with skills and insights in industrial challenges, leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship.
Application deadlines for studies starting 2024
16 October (2023): Application opens
15 January: Last day to apply
1 February: Submit documents and, if required, pay application fee
26 March: Admission results announced
August: Arrival and study start
Next application round
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Sustainable Energy Engineering at KTH
The master's programme in Sustainable Energy Engineering equips you with skills and insights into leadership, industrial challenges, innovation and entrepreneurship in the energy field. The programme provides an atmosphere and learning environment that fosters global responsibilities and sustainable development. Therefore, the emphasis is placed on dealing with energy engineering tasks with due consideration of technical, environmental and socio-economic issues.
The first semester of the programme is an intensive introductory period with broad-based coursework in energy engineering, including conversion technologies, systems and applications. Participants follow a learning path in advanced-level energy engineering courses, where their pre-requisite knowledge in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer is put to use in challenge-based problem-solving. Advanced methods are applied to identify, describe, quantify and find solutions to a diverse range of energy engineering problems.
For the second semester, you choose one of three profiles for in-depth studies for the rest of the programme.
Energy Supply through Clean Conversion Technologies
This profile focuses on the energy conversion processes and systems for generating and distributing primarily electrical power, district heating and cooling, and clean water. We cover the evolution of conventional energy systems to integrate a growing share of renewables and the challenges demanding further evaluation and innovation towards broader electrification, energy storage, efficient co-generation, polygeneration, transmission and improved solutions for energy supply-side management.
Energy in Buildings and Cities
Globally and in Europe, residential and commercial buildings are responsible for nearly 40 % of energy use, which is dominantly used for heating and cooling. In the coming years, tens of millions of conventional heating systems in Europe are expected to be replaced with environmentally friendly systems, such as heat pumps and solar-based solutions. The new system solutions are likely to be integrated and more complicated, which requires new engineering knowledge.
This profile focuses on the energy demands of the built environment and the components and systems for heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and solar systems. A central part of the profile is studying integrated energy systems, such as solar-geothermal heat pump systems, and analysing their performance on the building level. Possibilities for system coupling on the district and city levels will also be covered. Various building types and application areas will also be covered, including techno-economic and environmental impact analysis.
Energy System Analysis
This profile focuses on the systems perspective of the sustainable energy transition, where energy technology innovation, planning, and policy are linked to sustainable development. You will learn how to develop quantitative models for analysing energy systems as the basis for strategic investment decisions and policy in the circular economy context. Through qualitative analyses, the impact of policies on the transition to a sustainable society is analysed. Central to this profile is knowledge and skills of importance for contributing to a secure and low-carbon energy sector at the local, national, and international level – and in harmony with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Courses and teaching methods
We offer courses by faculty staff who are also engaged in research and collaboration with the industry. Similarly, many courses employ professionals from the industry as guest lecturers on topics related to the practical side of the curriculum. Examples of external partnerships in 2020-2021 are Northvolt, Abengoa, Azelio, SaltX, Torresol, Sweco, Ellevio, Stockholm Exergi, Vattenfall, Energi & Kylanalys, Fortum, World Bank, the International Energy Agency, and Stockholm Environmental Institute.
KTH is a member of Unite, a network of seven top universities in seven European countries. Unite offers virtual exchange studies in energy technology, which will give students in the programme the opportunity to follow several online courses as a complement to the courses at KTH. These courses will be included in your degree from KTH.
Teaching methods aim at student-centred learning, hands-on work and challenge-driven education. This means a significant content of project-based learning activities. Digitally based learning activities are common, including the concept of flipped classrooms, video lectures, and computerised automatically corrected homework/quizzes/exams.
Degree project
In the last semester, you carry out a degree project for five months. The project is done in an academic environment (for example, closely connected to the Department of Energy Technology research projects) or in an industrial setting. During your degree project, you will establish an excellent platform and gain valuable experience and contacts for the career ahead.
This is a two-year programme (120 ECTS credits) given in English. Graduates are awarded the degree of Master of Science. The programme is given mainly at KTH Campus in Stockholm by KTH’s School of Industrial Engineering and Management.
Topics covered
Renewable energy, sustainable energy utilisation, sustainable power generation, energy policy, energy management, project management, state-of-the-art in sustainable energy technology, modelling of energy systems.
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