Review by Novashree Samantaray (B.Tech)

Course Offered In Autumn 2021

Instructors Prof. Narendra Shiradkar

Prerequisites None

Difficulty 2

Course Content The course covers most of the official content though, some parts weren’t covered due to time constraint induced by the pandemic.

Feedback on Lectures The classes are taken in the collaborative classroom in the GG building, so the lectures are expected to be more of a discussion rather than the traditional theory lectures. Being active in the discussion helps a lot to internalise the concepts. Note-making and 100% attendance are very important as the professor doesn’t provide any lecture slides. There might be a few guest lectures from the industry leaders and researchers, which were very helpful to understand the nitti-gritties of establishing and running a PV power plant. A visit to the lab was supposed to be included, but didn’t happen due to pandemic.

Feedback on Evaluations Multiple, regular evaluations were taken during the course of the semester. Simple quizzes (post every lecture)(10%), Class Participation Exercises(10%), quizzes(10%), assignments(15%), mid-sem(15%), course project(20%) and end-sem(20%). Simple quizzes conducted after every lecture had 2-5 questions focusing on the content covered in the previous lecture. They helped in keeping up with the lectures/content. Class participation exercises are group activities (5-6 students) conducted during the class. In each exercise, the group discusses the given question and collectively arrives at a solution which is later discussed in the class. Other evaluations are similar to any other course, but the questions were very practical in nature. The exams are easily doable if one is attentive during the lectures.

Study Material and References

The professor didn’t suggest any study material as the course focuses on the practical aspects of running PV power plants that he has come across in his experience in the industry.

Follow-up Courses It is a well-rounded course. I don’t think there is a follow-up course per say, but I would suggest connecting with someone/some company from the PV industry after this course.

Final Takeaways One who wants to understand the real-life aspects of the PV industry must definitely take up this course. This course kind of defines the working of an on-site engineer.

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