Practically all universities in Czech Republic include in their study programmes courses on the environment, in which are general information about renewable energy sources. However, programmes directly aimed at educating specialists in photovoltaics have been developed only at the Czech Technical University (CTU) in Prague.

At the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, CTU in Prague, research on producing silicon solar cells first became a subject for student research projects in 1985 — 1988. With the aim of raising the interest of students, a course on Solar Energy Exploitation Systems, mostly dealing with photovoltaics, was introduced in 1995 as an optional course. This course was developed to introduce undergraduates to the main issues in solar energy conversion, mostly oriented on photovoltaics. It provided detail information from photovoltaic effect theory, cell construction and technology to applications, including operating conditions and economic and environmental problems [3]. In period 1995-2005, more than 20 students per year chose this course as a part of their study programme.

To meet the increasing demand for photovoltaics, a course in Photovoltaic Systems, dealing with PV system technology (28 hours of lectures, 28 hours of exercises) now forms part of the master study programme in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology.

In the field of photovoltaics, materials science and solar cell fabrication technology seem be of special importance, the projected progress in photovoltaic applications calls for a decrease in solar cell (or module) costs to 20% of present-day prices. The main features of significant materials therefore need to be introduced and explained.

The characteristic features of solar cells should be discussed in detail, and solar cell construction and technology should be presented, emphasizing efficiency and low production costs. Information about module construction and technology in connection with final parameters is also very important

For practical applications, information about basic types of photovoltaic systems, including structures and energy storage systems are key electrical engineering information for optimising conversion from solar to electrical energy. It is also necessary to provide detailed information about the basic power and control electronic circuits used in photovoltaic applications.

When working on photovoltaic system projects, it is very important to know about meteorological and other operating conditions, and also about the economic aspects of photovoltaics.

In an attempt to cover all the main aspects of photovoltaic systems and to give due prominence to the various important factors, the classes have been structures as shown in Table 1. Lectures provide a broad theoretical background for understanding problems in the field. Applications-oriented exercises form a very important part of the course, and are adapted to the requirements of electrical engineers. Details about the laboratory exercises synopsis and individual laboratory tasks are given in [4].

Another course of similar length on Photovoltaic Systems has been included in the master study programme in Intelligent Buildings, which will be opened at the Czech Technical University in the

2007/2008 academic year. This course concentrates in more details on practical photovoltaics applications in energy efficient buildings (on-roof and facade installations of PV systems).

At present, a new course on Systems for Solar Energy Exploitation has been prepared to be a part of of the bachalor study programme in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology. This course takes into synopsis also solar thermal systems; even the most interest is oriented on electrical energy production. This course is prepared to for new curricula starting in the school year 2009/2010.

Synopsis of lectures on Systems for Solar Energy Exploitation is show in Table 2.

There are cooperation links with some other European Universities. Lectures on Photovoltaic Systems are given also in English for stuents coming to study at the Czech Technical University in the framework of ERASMUS programme (about 15 students per year have taken part in it). Teachers from the CTU Prague participate also in preparing lectures at European Summer School on Solar Energy in Patra (Greece), PhD. course on Photovolaics in Aalborg (Denmark) and in using ICT tools for education in the field of potovoltaics.

Besides education on an university level, short courses and trainings are being prepared for engineers and technicians. Courses are organised by both universities (e. g. Czech Technical university has developed a short course on Renewable Energy Sources for energy producing company CEZ) and private companies (such courses should be university acredited). Some courses and workshops are organised also by professional organisations and by companies producing or selling PV technology. These courses are usually oriented on a particular areas or products and a relatively high level of general knowledge of participants, that they can obtain in the above described public education system, is desirable.

2. Conclusions

The Czech education system is developing in a synergy with increasing demand for building photovoltaic systems in Czech Republic. At the university level, the leader in the field is Czech Technical University in Prague. Specialised courses on photovoltaics have been developed for preparing specialists for very quickly growing segment of photovoltaic industry and for energy generation by photovoltaic applications. The course developed for the MSc study in the field of electrical engineering gives information on both device and application approach with application oriented laboratory measurement tasks. For new curricula (starting in the year 2009), a new course on Systems for Solar Energy Exploitation has been prepared to be a part of of the bachalor study programme in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology. New course on photovoltaics as a part of curricula of the MSc study in a branch “Intelligent buildings” has also been developed, to increase knowledge of civil engineers.

This way, specialist for very quickly developing field of photovoltaic industry and applications are prepared.

References

[1] Hirshman W., Herring G. and Schmels M.: Gigawarts — the measure of things to come, Photon International, No.3, 136 — 166, (2007)

[2] Jager-Waldau A., PV Status Report 2006 (Research, Solar Cell Production andMarket Implementation of Photovoltaics), Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg (2006)

[3] Benda, VDevelopment of a Course on Photovoltaic Systems. Solid State Phenomena. no. 97-98, pp. 133- 138.(2004)

[4] Benda, V., Machacek, Z.: Laboratory Exercises on Photovoltaics at CTU in Prague, this Proceedings, paper #266 (2008)