• Blended Learning & Flipped Classroom

The interest of the international community for the multiple interconnections among energy, environment and society are fully recognised as it is the close link between energy and development. The Agenda 2030 and the 17 Sustainable Development Objectives provide some evidence: the world is increasingly interconnected and the social challenges are getting more and more complex and the call to multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder action is recognised. Moreover, Gaol 7 identifies energy availability as a necessary precondition for human and social promotion, as well as an instrumental right to fight poverty, in line with the broad concept of “development as freedom” defined by Amartya Sen. Nevertheless, access to sufficient, affordable, efficient, reliable, safe and clean energy is not yet an opportunity for all. In developing countries, the problem is critical, but evidence has also risen in emerging countries and, more recently, even in developed countries. Innovative solutions and strategies to match the economic growth with the multidimensional targets of sustainability, including environmental preservation and social inclusion, need to be developed. The course aims at providing a general overview of the various aspects of cooperation and development analyzed from a project, program and process oriented perspective. The Project Cycle Management will be introduced as tool for appropriate design of cooperation Action. The energy sector will be the mainstream of the applications. Therefore, more specifically for energy project, a planning methodology will be introduced where the final solution is designed identified and implemented to meet the local needs and exploit local resources and where technological choices (to be effective) depends on a number of local boundary conditions like local economic, environmental and cultural condition. The CESP has 6 phases: Priority identification, Diagnostic, Planning, Technical and Comprehensive Design and Expected Impact Evaluation. The course aims to widen the vision of the students to the many implications that energy may have on development at global and local level. And to understand the many implications that this dichotomy may have on the engineering planning for effective and successful solutions. Some of the topics in the course will be managed with a blended classes approach making use of MOOC and other web resources. The project work is mostly an application of flipped classes.

The learning outcomes may be aggregated into four areas of knowledge

1. The students will learn the foundation and the evolution of the main development models from the Marshal plan to the new paradigm of Sustainable Development; they will learn the trends of the energy situation in emerging countries with special reference to the  African continent. The will learn the principles of energy planning and solution design by deepening the main renewable or hybrid technological solutions and will understand the basic principle of Decision support Systems. Students will also understand the main implication among energy and development, energy and human right as well as their policy implication at national and regional scale.

2. The student will be able to apply the Project Cycle Management and the methodological approach to define appropriate energy solutions for rural and off grid areas by defining load curves and selecting technologies. They will be also able to draft business models and to adopt strategy for long term sustainability of the given solution. They will also be able to evaluate the expected impact of the energy solution onto the socio economic asset of the target community.

3. the students will learn how to make choice and provide judgement, given a number of energy strategies for the same problem, they will be autonomous in identifying and defining a set of priority by adopting appropriate Decision support tools.

4. the students will learn how to prepare a propject proposal according to standard methods (like PCM) and hot to  present it, given a certain time and audience. 

Topic 1 History of cooperation and development models: From conflicts to cooperation. The phases of development cooperation: from the 50s to the present day. Colonialism and neo-colonialism. The theoretical foundations of cooperation and the evolution of development models. The Agenda 2030 and the 17 Development Goals. The Italian Law 125 on Cooperation and the New framework. In this part of the course we will make use of existing MOOC by Polimi and by other websources with a blended classes approach.

Topic 2 Global energy scenarios and a focus on Africa: The world energy situation in accordance with the forecasts of WB and IEA: OECD economies, emerging economies and critical economies. The forecast scenarios. The main socio-economic indicators. The concept of development and poverty (UNDP) and the current estimates. The energy indicators for development (EISD - IAEA and EID - UNDP). Comparisons and time-varying extensive and intensive indicators. An Energy focus on Africa

Topic 3 Comprehensive Energy Solution Planning (CESP): Strategies and appropriate technologies for access to energy: The size of the problem of access to energy and sustainable energy in DCs. The Energy Situation in Africa. Priority definition: need analysis. Diagnostic: load curve definition and forecast and resources assessment. Planning: beyond centralized electrification: the case of off-grid system (conventional, alternative and hybrid), REs for Power production, Coockstove and biogas. Decision Support systems to select alternative. Technical and Comprehensive Design. Impact evaluation modelling. Open Source Tool for Microgrid otpimisation will be introduced (based on pyton)

Topic 4 The Project Cycle Management: PCM of the European Commission, as an instrument of cooperation. The identification phase (analysis phase): problem objective, stakeholder and strategy analysis. The formulation (planning) phase: the logical framework approach, the Gantt chart and the budget. Output , Outcome and impact indicators. SMART indicators and OVIs. The link between PCM and the Theory of Change

Topic 5 Beyond technology: Energy, rights, economic models and policies: Energy and Rights: Resources and the common good, Ethics and Resources, Resources, and human rights. Energy and business models: funding and entrepreneurial approaches to energy access. Energy and policies: enabling policies for the dissemination of appropriate solutions. In this part of the course we will make use of co-organised seminars with external institutions partners of Polimi with a blended classes approach.

Lectures are a mix of ex-cathedra, blended/flipped where a participatory approach is envisaged via open discussion. Part of the course is devoted to a methodological project work about: project cycle management, application of the comprehensive energy solution planning. One project work will be carried out in team and it will be about “Rural electrification in Sub-Saharan Africa”. The project work evaluation will allow the assessment of the following learning outcomes

• The student will apply knowledge since the students will apply the CESP methodology to a real case, they will be able to define load curves,  select appropriate technologies, propose business models and evaluate the expected impact of the energy solution on the local community.
• The students will be able to make judgements since they will select strategies base on a set of given information and using appropriate decision support mathematics.
• The students will be able to communicate their achievements since they will work in team and will prepare a written proposal for the solution of the project work and will finally present the achievement via an oral presentation.

The project work provide a rating (0-6) to be added to the evaluation of the written text.  The written test will assess individually the following learning outcomes

• an improved knowledge and understanding of the subject since the students will have to respond to a set of theoretical questions
• a further assessment of their capacity to apply knowledge and understanding since the students will have to solve quantitative exercises

DOI:10.1007/978-3-319-00284-2_1

Chapter 1,2,3,5