MSc Sustainable Energy Engineering
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.
Sustainable Energy Engineering at KTH
The master’s programme in Sustainable Energy Engineering equips students with skills and insights in 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 for all. Therefore, the emphasis is placed on dealing with energy engineering tasks with due consideration of technical, environmental and socio-economic issues.
The first term 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 term, you choose one out 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 the generation and distribution of electrical power, district heating and cooling, clean water, etc.; including the necessary evolution of conventional energy systems to integrate a growing share of renewables and the challenges demanding further evaluation and innovation towards wider electrification, energy storage, efficient co-generation, polygeneration, transmission and improved solutions for energy supply-side management.
Energy in Buildings and Cities
This profile focuses on the demands of the built environment, and the opportunities for innovation in heating, ventilation and air-conditioning. A central part, in addition to the earlier mentioned traditional topics of energy in built environment, of the profile is building integrated solar energy small-scale distributed solutions at the building and district-city level. System integration issues, covering components to system and systems, are the main focus of the profile
Energy System Analysis
This profile focuses on systems perspective of sustainable energy transition, where energy technology innovation, planning, and policy are linked to sustainable development. You will learn how to develop quantitative models for analyzing energy systems as the basis for strategic decisions on investments and policy in the circular economy context. Through qualitative analyses, the impact of policies on the transition to a sustainable society is analyzed. Central to this profile are 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 are offered by faculty staff who are also engaged in research and collaboration with industry. Similarly, many courses employ professionals from 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 the area of 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-centered learning, hands-on work and challenge-driven education. This means a large content of project-based learning activities. Digitally based learning activities are common, including the concept of flipped classrooms, video lectures, and computerized automatically corrected homework/quizzes/exams.
Degree project
In the last term, a degree project is carried out which spans over five months. The project may be carried out either in an academic environment (e.g. 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.
Students
Find out what students from the programme think about their time at KTH.
Career
The energy field is an international and dynamic area in which well-trained engineers are in constant demand. Graduates find employment in industry, government agencies and consultancies. The master's programme in Sustainable Energy Engineering is also an excellent starting point for a research career, as many graduates go on to doctoral studies.
After the completion of this programme, you will be able to manage technical problems from a systems perspective, with a holistic view of their life cycle, from concept to specification, development, operation and decommissioning. You will also be confident in characterising an energy challenge, determining the necessary resource consumption and managing processes for problem-solving/realisation. Our aim is that you will have a particularly good understanding of the fact that engineering problems are often complex, and sometimes involve conflicting conditions. You will become aware of the responsibilities and ethical standpoints that may arise in connection with various technical, organisational, economic, ecological and societal activities.
Thus, the programme prepares you for immediate engagement in the development and implementation of sustainable energy technology, leadership positions in the field, as well as academic research. The future is bright, and, with properly trained engineers, society will reach sustainability in energy systems. Graduates from the programme can be among else be found in entrepreneurial companies like Northwolt and Phoenix Biopower, in consulting companies like AFRY, SWECO and WSP, in energy utilities such as Vattenfall and EDF, in the building companies NCC and Skanska, and other organisations such as Scania Group, InnoEnergy and Swedish Energy Agency, IRENA, World Bank and the International Energy Agency.
Sustainable development
Graduates from KTH have the knowledge and tools for moving society in a more sustainable direction, as sustainable development is an integral part of all programmes. Three key sustainable development goals addressed by the master's programme in Sustainable Energy Engineering are:
SDG7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) is addressed in many courses in the programme, for example in the courses Renewable Energy Technology and Sustainable Power Generation, where technologies and tools for sustainable energy systems are studied. To address SDG9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), the programme offers courses like on Energy System Analysis and Applications and Transformation in Energy Policy and Climate Agenda. An example of programme courses that address SDG11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) are Advanced Energy System Integration in Cities and Advanced Energy System Integration in Buildings.
Faculty and research
The master’s programme in Sustainable Energy Engineering is closely connected to the KTH Department of Energy Technology (EGI). At EGI, the research covers wide areas of energy conversion, electricity generation and energy utilization as well as energy systems and policies for implementing sustainable energy solutions. As such, the work aims at contributing to welfare and development through world-class research and education in innovative energy technologies and systems, and promotion of the energy sector transition towards sustainability.
