CHECK OUT OUR 2023 ANNUAL REPORT

Highlights

Here’s a sneak peak to our 2023 Annual Report!

From our Board Chair

From our Executive Director

2023: Our Impact at a Glance

Here’s a glimpse of Student Energy’s 2023 impact in numbers:

• Global Reach: Our Programs Ecosystem (7 active programs) engaged a total of 826 participants from 116 countries, 78 of which are developing economies.
• Youth Empowerment: Supported 9 global youth delegations at prestigious events, and 407 youth delegates from 95 countries attended SES 2023, the largest youth-led energy summit.
• Global Community Engagement: Reached 32,730 people through our global Chapters network, with a membership of 4,369 students from different universities across the world.
• Mentorship, Early Career and Project Development: 32 graduates completed the first cohort of the Guided Projects program, received 1,604 Career Training and 1,063 Fellowship applications from youth interested in joining our capacity-building and mentorship-oriented programs.
• Networking: Spoke at 34 panels and events in the climate and energy space worldwide, including the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) UAE, Climate Week NYC, and Africa Energy Forum, among others.
• Recognition: Received 3 individual awards and one organizational accolade, “Best Nonprofit Employer: Youth Advancement for an organization with 20+ staff”, awarded by CharityVillage.

5 accomplishments we’re celebrating:

1. Successfully hosting SES 2023 in Abu Dhabi, bringing together 407 young people from around the world.

Making history as the first International Student Energy Summit held in the MENA region – a global hub for energy, SES 2023 featured 407 youth delegates from all over the world to meaningfully collaborate with sector and community leaders on energy solutions. We are proud to work with several partners for the first time, including Bezos Earth Fund, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), and coordinated with NYU Abu Dhabi and the COP 28 UAE team as the Summit took place as an official side event of the UN Climate Change Conference for the very first time.

2. Activating a first cohort of youth-led clean energy projects in solar PV through the Guided Projects program and expanding the program’s offerings and reach.

With 32 graduates from 6 teams representing Kenya, Canada, and Peru, the Guided Projects program provided teams with the firsthand experience of developing solar PV projects to solve local energy problems in their communities. After a successful first cohort, Student Energy focused on retooling and securing additional resources for the program’s continuation in February 2024.

3. Releasing and disseminating our first round of the three research projects with active stakeholder engagement throughout.

Under Student Energy’s newly launched Research and Youth Engagement program, we launched the Global Youth Energy Outlook (GYEO), the Youth Impact Framework, and the Energy Transition Skills Project.

VIEW THE REPORTS

4. Integrating mentorship as a core aspect of our Programs Ecosystem, offering our youth network platforms to build connections through mentorship offerings.

Mentorship is the foundation of the Student Energy Career Training (SECT) program, and regional and language-specific mentorship is necessary and achieved through individual recruitment from program coordinators who are globally dispersed.

5. Amplifying youth-led action on energy on global stages and decision-making spaces

Student Energy attended 23 global energy and climate events, including the New York Climate Week, Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue, and the Africa Energy Forum among others. We participated as speakers and moderators at 34 events, and hosted 11 events at COP 28 and the Student Energy Summit. We acted in an advisory capacity for several youth councils, and hosted the very first Youth Energy Narratives Council under the Research and Youth Engagement portfolio.

We’ve got so much more in store for you! Explore our 2023 Annual Report:

STUDENT ENERGY'S 2023 ANNUAL REPORT 

Thank you for standing by us as we empower the next generation of leaders in driving a just and equitable energy future! Your continued support fuels our mission and inspires us every step of the way.

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Website & Blog: https://studentenergy.org/

With only 2 days to go before #COP27 begins, Student Energy is preparing to share youth perspectives toward climate action and empower the road to Net-zero together.

Student Energy Team at COP 27

Student Energy will be speaking, facilitating, or hosting events during COP 27. 

Meredith Adler – Executive Director

Helen Watts – Senior Director of Partnerships

Shakti Ramkumar – Director of Communications & Policy

Abdullah Khair – Partnerships Manager

Grace Young – Alumni & Community Manager

Eduarda Zhogbi – Student Energy Senior Advisor

Vaughn-Xavier Jameer – Chapters Associate

Oluwadabira Abiola-Awe – Partnerships Associate

Danielle Kehler – SevenGen Manager

If you are heading to COP 27, Student Energy would love to connect with you. Send Helen, Shakti, or Grace an email at helen@studentenergy.org, shakti@studentenergy.org, or grace@studentenergy.org and we would be happy to meet!

Student Energy Delegation in Sharm El Sheikh

Student Energy is working with key partners, including Sustainable Energy for All, the Government of Canada, and NYU Abu Dhabi, to make sure that youth can participate in person at COP 27 Sharm El Sheikh. Student Energy will be having a delegation of 16 Student Energy young leaders who will be working with us on side events and bringing key messages to world leaders while participating in programming throughout the blue zone. Countries represented will include Canada, India, Jordan, Brazil, Paraguay, Nigeria, Trinidad, Uganda, Spain, UAE, Poland, and the UK.

Currently, SEforALL is supporting a delegation of ten young women from developing economies to attend dedicated programs at the SDG 7 Pavilion and throughout the blue zone.

Energy Transition Skills Report Initial Findings Launch

Student Energy, in partnership with Ørsted, will launch initial findings from the Energy Transition Skills Report at COP 27. The report contains survey results and recommendations from 5,000 young people around the world on how to create more accessible and inclusive entry points for youth to enter and stay in careers that accelerate the global energy transition. The findings will be delivered by Shakti Ramkumar, Student Energy’s Director of Communications & Policy, at the Danish Pavilion on November 16 from 8:00 – 9:00.

The Energy Transition Skills Project was launched in 2022 to identify the needs of ready young people for energy transition jobs. 

Youth Impact Framework Initial Findings Launch

With the recent developments of the Youth Impact Framework in place, Student Energy, with the Global Covenant of Mayors, will be sharing the initial findings at COP 27. The findings will be discussed by Shakti at the UNFCCC Innovation Zone on November 10 from 14:00 – 16:00.

The Youth Impact Framework is a set of impact measurement tools and indicators to help youth climate advocates, project leaders, and founders measure and communicate the impact of their initiatives to incorporate youth-inclusive project design principles, by recognizing the impact of youth contributions to SDG 7 and across the Sustainable Development Goals.

International Student Energy Summit 2023 Abu Dhabi Announcement

More than 1,000 young people have already pre-registered for the International Student Energy Summit 2023 (SES 2023) during the first week beginning the summit’s launch last October 27. The Student Energy Summit team will be announcing the International Student Energy Summit 2023 at the Youth Pavilion on November 15. This will be followed by The Student Energy Summit 2023 Abu Dhabi: Uniting the Energy Transition happening at the UEA Pavilion from 14:00 – 14:45. 

Global Youth Energy Outlook Final Report Launch

In 2020, Student Energy launched the Global Youth Energy Outlook, the first youth-led research project of its kind to collect youth perspectives on energy. An online survey and a series of Regional Dialogues have engaged 41,652 young people, aged 18-30, from 181 countries and territories around the world. Now, the final report will be launched at COP 27. 

Find out what else we’re doing at COP 27!

November 8 

How can clean energy mitigate climate change, accelerate development, and support food security? 

• Shakti will be speaking at the Danish Pavilion from 12:00 to 12:45 with the event hosted by the Danish Chamber of Commerce

November 9

Youth Financing Done Right: How to best structure youth-financing program in developing countries

• Abdullah Khair, Student Energy’s Partnerships Manager, will be speaking at the Side Event Room 3 – HATSHEPSUTI from 11:30 – 12:30. The event hosted by YOUNGO

Just Sustainability, Circular Economy and Social Justice: employment and social policies to support a just green transition across the globe

• Shakti is speaking at the EU Pavilion from 19:00 – 20:00

November 10

Youth in the Energy Transition – Panel Discussion 

• Abdullah will be speaking at the Atoms4Climate Pavilion on November 10 from 9:00 – 10:00. This event is hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency

Launch of the Energy Transition Commission

• Vaughn-Xavier Jameer, Student Energy’s Chapters Associate, will be speaking at the SDG 7 Pavilion from 10:30 – 11:30. The event is hosted by SEforALL 

Empowering Youth in Climate and Sustainable Energy

• Abdullah will be speaking at the Green Zone on November 10 from 13:00 – 14:00. The event is hosted by Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency.

Investing in Youth for a Just Energy Transition

• Eduarda Zoghbi, Student Energy’s Senior Advisor, will be speaking on this event, with Grace Young, Student Energy’s Alumni and Community Manager, moderating at the SDG 7 Pavilion on November 10 at 13:30 – 14:30

Fireside Chat with Simon, CEO of GEAPP and Dabira

• Oluwadabira Abiola-Awe, Student Energy’s Partnership Associate, will be speaking on this event happening at the GEAPP Office from 14:00 – 14:30

November 11

UNDP COP 27 Hour

• Dabira will be speaking at the UN Broadcast Center from 11:30 – 11:55. The event is hosted by UNDP

Global Alliance for Sustainable Energy Event

• Meredith Adler, Student Energy’s Executive Director, will be moderating this event happening at the Wind and Solar Pavilion Zone D from 14:00 – 15:30. The event is hosted by the Enel Foundation

Panel Discussion – Energy Transition, Green Jobs and Skills

• Dabira will be speaking on this event at the WMB Pavilion, hosted by the National Grid

High Level Panel Discussion with Matchmaking Session and Dinner

• Helen Watts, Student Energy’s Senior Director of Partnerships, will be speaking at the event from 17:20 – 20:00

November 12

There is No Food Security Without Clean Cooking

• Shakti will be speaking in this event, hosted by the Clean Cooking Alliance, happening at the SDG 7 Pavilion from 9:00 – 10:00

Achieving NDC Targets through Clean Cooking Action

• The event will take place at the UN Climate Change Global Innovation Hub from 13:00 – 14:00, hosted by the Clean Cooking Alliance

Capacity Building: Energy Literacy to Power a Greener Future (The Commonwealth Secretariat)

• Helen will be speaking at the SDG 7 Pavilion from 16:30 – 17:30, hosted by The Commonwealth Secretariat

November 14

Where is the Money for a Gender Just Transition?

• Dabira will be speaking at the SDG 7 Pavilion from 10:30 – 11:30, hosted by UNIDO

November 15

Game Changers Accelerating the Global Energy Transition

• Eduarda will be speaking at the Climate Action Rooms from 10:00 – 12:00

Unlocking Potential: Working with Young People for a Just Transition

• Happening at the We Mean Business Pavilion from 10:30 – 11:30, Student Energy will be co-hosting this event with We Mean Business

Africa’s Just Energy Transition: Scaling Up Renewable Energy Minigrids for People and Planet

• Dabira will be speaking at the UNDP Pavilion from 11:45 – 12:35

Green Jobs in the Energy Transition

• Dabira will be speaking at the We Mean Business Pavilion from 11:30 – 12:30

COP27 Energy Day Implementation Lab “A cleaner power sector by 2030: Scaling renewable and storage-based systems.”

• Eduarda will be speaking at the Lotus Room (Action Room 2) from 14:00 to 15:30

Indigenous & Youth Leadership in Canada’s Road to Net-zero

• Student Energy and SevenGen will be co-hosting this event at the Canada Pavilion from 15:15 – 16:00

November 17

Meeting with Global Affairs Canada

• Student Energy will be co-hosting and pitching this event at the SDG 7 Pavilion

While there is a lot to be excited about and while accelerating the transition to renewable energy is still an urgent priority, we have to also keep in mind the valid concerns related to renewable energy – check out a related post: Exploring Concerns About Renewable Energy.

This post is a part of our ongoing #Energy101 social media series. We create accompanying blog posts alongside our social media posts for accessibility, to provide additional information, and to link our sources. Check out the series on Instagram @studentenergy, and on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

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Myth 1: Renewable energy is too expensive

Why this is false: The cost of renewable energy has dropped in price in the last 10 years, with the price of solar alone falling 89% in a decade. Prices have fallen so low, quickly, that on-shore wind turbines and large-scale solar power are often cheaper or comparable to conventional fossil fuel and non-renewable sources – and that is largely without the subsidies and incentives that the fossil fuel industry has received for decades.

Did you know?

 According to a 2020 report by IRENA, renewables are now the cheapest sources of electricity globally. This milestone presents countries that are heavily reliant on coal as a cheap source of power to increase the pace of their transition while reducing electricity costs and meeting energy needs.

Myth 2: Renewable energy can’t deliver when there isn’t sunshine or wind, making the grid unreliable

Why this is false: Yes, solar and wind energy are intermittent – but this doesn’t necessarily have to make the energy grid unreliable. Even with fossil fuel sources, electricity grids must be designed to manage variability and maintain a balance between generation and demand. Here are some ways to manage intermittency:

1. Using a diverse combination of renewable energy sources so that one can step in for another when needed
2. Advances in energy storage — battery storage technology is improving, and costs for some technologies like lithium-ion batteries have declined by almost 90% in the past decade
3. Demand flexibility and smart demand response strategies could help eliminate steep rise and falls in energy demand throughout the course of a day and help balance supply and demand  

Energy 101 terminology: How are overall costs of electricity generation from different sources compared? Using a measure called the levelized cost of electricity or LCOE. Lazard and the Energy Information Administration are two reliable sources that make this data available.

Myth 3: Transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy will result in job losses

Why this is false: IRENA estimates global jobs in renewable energy are expected to reach 42 million by 2050, more than triple the current level, while policies advocating for energy efficiency can generate millions of additional jobs. Although there can be a net positive increase of jobs, there may also be a loss of 5 million jobs in the fossil fuel sector, which underscores a need for a just transition that ensures that new clean energy opportunities are available in the right places and accessible to those employed in the current energy sector.

The Brookings institute also found that in the United States, “workers in clean energy earn higher and more equitable wages when compared to all workers nationally”

Did you know?

According to a recent report by the African Development Bank (AFDB) and IRENA, an “integrated policy framework” built around the energy transition could unlock Africa’s vast potential, opening new sustainable energy investments and growing its economy by 6.5% by 2050. The solar sector alone could also employ 3.3 million Africans by 2050.

Sources

1. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/03/renewable-energy-myths-debunked/
2. https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/02/3-clean-energy-myths-debunked/
3. https://www.theverge.com/22858437/2021-mining-critical-minerals-clean-energy-renewables-climate-change
4. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/07/renewables-cheapest-energy-source/
5. https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/12/21/opinion/busting-three-renewable-energy-and-grid-myths

As well as being green, wind energy is one of the cheapest ways of generating electricity, and it is currently the most common generating technology for new installations in Canada. According to Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA), more than 11,000 MW electricity is generated from installed wind turbines in Canada as of 2016 [1], and “In the last five years, Canada has seen more wind energy capacity installed than any other form of electricity generation, averaging 1275 MW of new build each year”. In order to make the generated wind energy more profitable comparing to fossil fuels, cost per kilowatt needs to be minimized. “Cost” in general refers to manufacturing and installation costs, and operation and maintenance costs. In terms of operation and maintenance cost control, there are three main strategies: Reactive, Preventive and Predictive maintenance [2].

A reactive strategy [3] means to run a component until it is damaged and causes the wind turbine (or a machine in general) to shut down. Subsequently, the repair is performed and operation resumes until the next incident. This strategy is not economical; the reason being, sudden component repairs and replacements could cost much more than planned maintenance, and also the breakdown of a component in the drive-train could damage other components, which itself is an additional cost. With reactive strategy, the operation budget is harder to control since the breakdown of a component is unpredictable, and spare parts or required contractors may not be available immediately.

A preventive maintenance [4] is a planned maintenance strategy (time-based) which is triggered and scheduled based on events. It relies heavily on operator experience, age of the machine, and manufacturer recommendations. The fundamental assumption is that an operating component has a certain life and is to be replaced or repaired at specific time frames. The main problem with preventive maintenance is that the intervals between inspections in most cases are too long to detect a defect at its early stage. The other issue with the preventive maintenance strategy is that the scheduled inspection intervals are based on the average operation conditions, whereas each wind turbine and wind farm has its own site and operating condition. The manufacturer recommended inspection schedule for a same component may not be suitable for a wind farm in different location, and most likely the 20-year operation life might not be met.

A predictive maintenance [5], which is also called condition-based strategy, is the cost-optimal strategy. It is performed by monitoring the status of the machine, based on several sets of data (such as vibration, oil, temperature, etc.). By analyzing the online data, the operator can potentially detect the issues as early as possible and schedule applicable economical remedies. For example, wind farm operators in Canada do not tend to schedule any maintenance in winter time due to the harsh weather and the cost. If they follow the reactive or preventive maintenance strategies, a sudden breakdown of a component might happen in winter and they do not have any other option other than shutting down the turbine and replace the part. However, if they detect the defect early enough by data analysis, they could effectively apply temporary remedies to delay the breakdown and have the part replaced in warmer seasons. Through this strategy, wind farm operators can also repair and replace a group of parts at the same time, as one of the major costs of wind turbine repair is the daily cost of crane rental. Instead of renting a crane for a few days to change only one part, they can replace a group of damaged components on several wind turbines in the farm.

Wind turbine failure is mostly associated with the abrupt changes of wind speed and direction. It causes severe stress and fatigue condition that can result in blades, rotor, coupling, gearbox, and bearings to fail more easily than in other mechanical systems. Drive-train failure is a common problem in mechanical systems. It is also one of the most studied problems in the field of mechanical component condition monitoring. Although there have been a large number of techniques developed for fault diagnosis, a reliable and easy-to-understand method that can deal with variable speed applications has not emerged. This represents the gap between research community and a broad range of industries in the field. From experience, older wind turbines have an annual maintenance cost of 3% (in average) of the original cost of the turbine. Condition monitoring and predictive maintenance can prevent fault propagation and significantly reduce maintenance cost. Canada as one of the leaders in renewable energy marketing and production, with the large number of wind turbines already installed, is focusing on maintenance and reliability issues to maximize turbine availability.

Several advanced signal processing schemes to improve reliability of machine diagnostics and prevent misdiagnosis have been developed. Yet, the industry typically relies on simple techniques. For industry, the problem is not lack of sophisticated diagnostic techniques, but rather scarcity of simple yet reliable approaches to support unskilled operators make important decisions without a specialist, or automated systems to allow a small group of engineers to run large wind farms.

Fault Diagnosis Techniques:

Fault diagnosis is the main part of the predictive maintenance approach, which is done before root causes analysis and prognosis. The wind power industry mainly uses three main techniques to detect drive-train faults:

1. Oil Analysis

Oil analysis is used extensively in the wind energy industry as a useful method to monitor bearings and gearboxes [6]. Lubricant samples are collected in order to assess whether the lubricant is still healthy. Also, contaminants in the lubricant can indicate if any environmental debris/dirt or wear particles are present in the lubricant which significantly could reduce the service life by causing machine wear.

The procedure includes oil sampling, analytical tests and data analysis [7], which provides information on form, quantity, and size of the derbies. If there are wear particles in the oil samples, as a result of a defect in the component, the defect is potentially severe and immediate action needs to be taken. While this technique has proven to be useful, oil analysis cannot be used to detect the location of the defect in the component, as they are usually manufactured from a same material [8].

2. Temperature Analysis

Thermocouples or similar devices (e.g. Resistance Temperature Detector- RTD) are attached to the component to collect temperatures to analyze the gradient [9]. However, while this method is useful, thermal analysis is also not a robust analysis to detect the location and size of the faults, specially in bearings [7]. Non-destructive infrared thermography method, on the other hand, is capable of detecting faults at their early stages providing their locations, yet this method is not currently cost efficient and easy to implement for wind turbines [10].

3. Vibration Analysis

Vibration analysis is perhaps the most efficient type of drive-train defect detection method [11]. For example, an undamaged bearing generates a steady state vibration, but a fault in any elements of it can change the condition and produce noticeable vibration impulses. In other words, fault(s) on bearing element amplify the vibration. Therefore vibration analysis is a great tool to detect these types of changes. Vibration analysis (including time domain, frequency domain and combination of time and frequency domains) of mechanical components has been used for a long time in both academia and industry, and has been significantly improved during almost the last two decades. In terms of wind turbine application, the very old turbines did not benefit from online vibration monitoring, but today’s installed turbines are typically fully equipped with vibration sensors on different parts of the drivetrain including main bearing, gearbox, gearbox bearings, and generator bearings, and an operation centre monitors the status of the drive-train [12]. For a typical 1.5 MW wind turbine, eight to eleven vibration sensors are installed on the drive-train [13]. For these wind turbines there is one sensor on the main bearing, six on the gearcase, and four on the generator bearings (two on drive-end and two on non-drive-end bearings). Vibrations from the wind turbine drive-train, unlike oil samples, can be monitored remotely from the diagnosis center. There are several communication configurations, but typically a group of wind turbines are connected locally to a small server, which itself is connected to wind farm server via wireless connection. The wind farm server is then connected to the diagnosis server via a local-area network (LAN) and can be controlled and monitored remotely.

References:

[1] http://canwea.ca/wind-energy/installed-capacity

[2] C. A. Walford, Wind turbine reliability: understanding and minimizing wind turbine operation and maintenance costs. United States. Department of Energy, 2006.

[3] L. Swanson, “Linking maintenance strategies to performance,” International journal of production economics, vol. 70, no. 3, pp. 237–244, 2001.

[4] J. Nilsson and L. Bertling, “Maintenance management of wind power systems using condition monitoring systems- life cycle cost analysis for two case studies,” IEEE Transactions on energy conversion, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 223–229, 2007.

[5] A. Kusiak and W. Li, “The prediction and diagnosis of wind turbine faults,” Renewable

Energy, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 16–23, 2011.

[6] W. Musial, S. Butterfield, and B. McNiff, “Improving wind turbine gearbox reliability,” in European Wind Energy Conference, Milan, Italy, pp. 7–10, 2007.

[7] A. Rezaei, Fault Detection and Diagnosis on the rolling element bearing. PhD thesis, Carleton University Ottawa, 2007.

[8] T. Akagaki, M. Nakamura, T. Monzen, and M. Kawabata, “Analysis of the behaviour of rolling bearings in contaminated oil using some condition monitoring techniques,” Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part J: Journal of Engineering Tribology, vol. 220, no. 5, pp. 447–453, 2006.

[9] H. Maxwell, “How to install maintainable bearing temperature sensors,”

[10] W. Kim, J. Seo, and D. Hong, “Infrared thermographic inspection of ball bearing; condition monitoring for defects under dynamic loading stages,” in 18lh World Conference on Nondestructive Testing, Durban, no. 256, Citeseer, 2012.

[11] W.Wang and O. A. Jianu, “A smart sensing unit for vibration measurement and monitoring,” IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 70–78, 2010.

[12] R. Hyers, J. McGowan, K. Sullivan, J. Manwell, and B. Syrett, “Condition monitoring and prognosis of utility scale wind turbines,” Energy Materials, 2013.

[13] S. Sheng, H. Link, W. LaCava, J. Van Dam, B. McNiff, P. Veers, J. Keller, S. Butterfield, and F. Oyague, “Wind turbine drivetrain condition monitoring during grc phase 1 and phase 2 testing,” Contract, vol. 303, pp. 275–3000, 2011.