HUMAN RESOURCES FOR PV MARKET GROWTH:
A TOOL FOR PV MARKET EXPANSION IN ARGENTINA
Julio A. Bragagnolo, Sebastian Kind, and Walter Legnani
Secretaria de Ciencia, Tecnologa y Posgrado, Universidad Tecnolgica Nacional, Buenos Aires, Argentina
ABSTRACT
There is a measure of agreement that the size of the PV market in South
America, particularly in Argentina, is far from its potential and that much
larger market sizes can be developed if the barriers to the adoption of PV
technology can be promptly addressed.
While evidence suggests growing Government interest in Renewable
Energy and signicant private initiatives in PV industry in San Juan, a
privileged area in terms of irradiation, the relatively small size of the human
resource pool stands as a major barrier to adoption of PV.
In this paper, we describe the eort made by the Universidad Tecnolgica
Nacional in Argentina (UTN) to develop an engineering workforce that can
translate policy challenges into specic technology-based, Renewable
Energy (RE) projects including not only Solar Power, but also Wind Power
and Biomass.
PV MARKET IN ARGENTINA, AN OVERVIEW
The Renewable Energy in the Rural Market Project (PERMER), run by the
Government of Argentina (Secretariat of Energy) has established a small
PV market oriented to the supply of electricity to remote households and
rural schools (http://energia.mecon.gov.ar/permer). The project goal is pre-
electrication rather than the massive supply of electricity planned in the
large current international projects. As such, it involves only small systems
starting at 100 W capacity.
More recently, the Government of Argentina has launched the GENREN
program calling for the installation of 898 MW of Renewable Energy [RE]
generation [1]. Of these, a small but signicant 20 MW are based on PV
technology. The six PV projects selected are to supply PV electricity to the
national grid on the basis of 15 year contracts at prices ranging from USD
547 to 598 per MWh, with a weighted average of USD 571 per MWh.
Successful building of these projects would multiply the size of the PV
market in Argentina approximately by a factor of ten.
A 1.2 MW experimental PV generation plant, the largest in Argentina to
date, featuring single and multicrystalline silicon and thin lm modules and
a monitoring system is under construction in the Province of San Juan,
Argentina [2]. This particular event indicates interest from one of the world
regions with the highest irradiance values.
In this context, the size of the human resource pool aects policy
development, the development of regulations aecting PV use, the
promotion of PV as a solution to environmental issues, accelerated project
development and the establishment of a local manufacturing industry as a
major link in the worldwide supply chain.
PROGRAM AND TEACHING ENVIRONMENT
UTN (www.utn.edu.ar) is a public and tuition-free University. UTN has
thirty engineering schools throughout Argentina and is the leading teacher
of engineering in Argentina, graduating 60% of the countrys engineers
each year. Pioneer in Argentina, a Masters of Science Course in Renewable
Energy was created at UTN, starting in March 2010. [3]
The goal of this Academic Excellence Program is to develop a new
generation of professionals who will contribute to expand renewable energy
technology in an emergent area in this expanding industry.
The postgraduate degree is designed in such a way that any graduate in
the eld of science and engineering can apply. This student base is a major
asset in giving the course a strong science and technology base. The
teaching proceeds in three steps. The rst semester contains a core of
common knowledge in which the students are prepared in skills concerning
statistics, thermodynamics, uid mechanics, economic aspects of RE, legal
and regulatory norms, and basic meteorology. The next step is composed
by a set of lectures in the specic eld of each one of the three
specializations selected. This stage is designed to contribute to the
formation of the students in the deeper aspects of the RE orientation
selected by them. The lectures are supplemented with visits to research
laboratories and industries concerning RE as well producing plants of RE.
The last step of the program is the elaboration of a research master thesis. To
complete this stage, students attend lectures on technology research and
thesis project preparation, as well as normative information specic to the
UTN and writing style. They contact appropriate thesis directors and secure
help in outlining the research topics. An academic board made up of program
professors traces the students progress during their thesis work. This work
can be done in any laboratory in Argentina (academic or industrial) or in
foreign laboratories, preferably those of the visiting professors. Once the
thesis work is nished, students must submit their work to a panel of three
professors, one of which must be external to the UTN.
The intensive courses are planned to teach an appropriate balance between the
science and technology of renewable energy and the reality of the worldwide
market. As an example of the thoroughness of the curriculum, we cite strong
program segments in weather science as well as project development. All
courses were taught for three to four hours, ve times per week.
The program was launched with the support of key executives in the
governmental energy sector, RE industries and associations and academic
institutions in Argentina.
STUDENT RECRUITMENT AND TEACHING STAFF
Thirty two students recruited from a pool of four hundred enquiries, of
which sixty applicants were interviewed, were granted free tuition to attend
a course addressing PV and Thermal Solar Power, as well as Wind Power
and Biomass. The prole and academic history of the sixty students
interviewed for admission to the course was slanted to engineering: fty
had an engineering degree (chemical, mechanical, industrial, electric power,
electronics and materials). Other disciplines included architecture,
environmental sciences and business. Twenty seven students were
graduates of UTN and ten were female. Key criteria for the students
selection were their academic and professional credentials and their
commitment to work in the RE industry in its academic, industrial,
commercial o regulatory areas. All students were required to prove English
prociency as the courses were taught in English or Spanish, depending on
the teacher. Another requirement for all students was the availability of
reasonable amounts of time for the lectures, homework and many other
activities that require substantial time commitments. After admission the
students selected one of the three branches of the program, Solar Energy,
Wind Energy or Biomass.
Of the thirty two students admitted, there are thirty engineers, two of which
specializing in the environment, one architect, and one business graduate.
Eight admitted students are female. With regards to the female UTN
population, UTN is known for its eort to promote engineering amongst
female students: thirty seven out of eighty nine candidates for a doctorate
in engineering are women.
The teaching sta consisted of thirty percent of visiting professors coming
from major research and development centers in all areas of RE. UTN and
other Argentine institutions supplied the remaining teachers in the sta.
Visiting professors were invited to teach specic seminars along the
program, some during the rst semester (March to July) dedicated to
teaching the thirty-strong group about the three technologies, and some
during the second semester of 2010 (July to December), where three
groups of ten students each were taught focused courses in each chosen
specialty.
PHOTOVOLTAICS
In what follows, we will focus on the PV program. We note, however, that
the Solar Energy program included a major segment on high temperature
solar power taught by Aldo Steinfeld of ETH Zrich. For the specic
teaching of Photovoltaics, we began with a comprehensive view of the
current status of the industry. Our discussion of the PV industry included
incentives, grid parity, technologies, industry value chain, key products and
industry players. Such a discussion is necessary to focus the students on
the key business and technology issues in the PV industry. This introduction
was followed by a number of lectures on the technical basis of the operation
of solar cells and modules. Because they are an important part of PV
economics, issues of PV sustainability such as energy payback and
emissions were included.
Once the basics of PV operation were introduced, a number of lectures on
the physics of advanced materials and devices were given by Angus Rockett
(University of Illinois). Juan Carlos Jimeno (University of the Basque
Country, Spain) and one of us (Julio Bragagnolo) taught a number of
lectures on silicon solar cell technology including advanced device analysis
and current R&D issues in cell and module manufacturing. Kurt Taretto
(University of Neuquen, Argentina) taught a segment on organic and dye
sensitized solar cells.
EVALUATION AND RESULTS
The initial results of this course are extremely encouraging. All students
are submitting their thesis plans and many, including PV Solar Power
students, are exploring business ventures or taking up positions in the RE
industry. Of the ten students admitted to the solar segment of the course,
three are pursuing a thesis in Photovoltaics. Topics include advanced solar
cell testing software and silicon solar cell metallization as well as an analysis
of the manufacturing technologies that can be rapidly adopted to facilitate
the acceleration of PV technology in Argentina. Among the lessons learned,
specically for PV, is the need to improve the consistency between the wide
ranging academic background of the students selected and the course
syllabus. While the course as taught provided learning opportunities for
engineers from all walks of the profession, the specic content of the course
needs to be adapted to improve the learning experience.
To continue its contribution to expanding the RE and PV markets, UTN is
preparing to repeat this initiative and induct the second group of students
beginning in 2012. In our attempt to facilitate PV expansion in Argentina we
believe that our contribution to development of public policy will be as
important as the creation of hands-on engineering professionals for
industrial operations. Therefore, for this new, 2012 group, the UTN has
reserved several places for government ocials and for professionals from
the RE industry.
The UTN experience, to our knowledge the rst in Latin America, has
resulted in a program with unique characteristics, suited to supply the
human resources necessary in this promising area of the world.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We acknowledge the invaluable collaboration of Alicia Roman who was key
in developing this teaching eort and Constanza Dotta in gathering and
analyzing information about the students. Jorge Hilbert organized the
Biomass section of the Renewable Energy course and contributed greatly
to selecting the students for the solar discipline. We acknowledge all solar
teachers, but specically for PV, Angus Rockett, Juan Carlos Jimeno and
Kurt Taretto, for their great teaching eort.
REFERENCES
[1] Ministerio de Planicacin Federal, Inversin Pblica y Servicios, June
2010, Programa GENREN, Adjudicacin de contratos de Abastecimiento
con Fuentes Renovables de Energa, ENARSA, Ocial Site, last access date
June 6, 2011.
www.enarsa.com.ar/pdf/licitaciones_resultados_adjudicacion_genren.pdf
[2] J. C. Poblete Barrios, May 22, 2006, Energa fotovoltaica Cotizaron 5
Empresas. Gioja Participo del Acto, Province of San Juan, Ocial Site. last
access date June 6, 2011.
www.sanjuan.gov.ar/prensa/archivo/002028.html
[3] Maestra en Energas Renovables, UTN, Ocial website, last access
date June 6, 2011.
www.utn.edu.ar/subsecretarias/posgrado/maestria-e-r.utn