Msc in Renewable Energy
Bedford, United Kingdom
MSc
DURATION
3 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
21 Sep 2026*
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
GBP 26,995 **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* for UK and Irish students
** for overseas students | £12,370 - for home students
Key Summary
About: Study the MSc in Renewable Energy at Cranfield and tackle climate change head-on. This postgraduate MSc gives technical and management skills for designing and managing renewable energy systems. You can specialize in technical design or renewable engineering project management. Cranfield is ranked in the UK top 5 for mechanical engineering and offers engineering-scale facilities, low-CO2 technologies, and staff with real-world experience.
Career Outcomes: Graduates are highly sought after by employers due to global low-carbon focus. You'll analyze energy needs and design, implement solutions across industry and public sectors. Roles include Energy Transition Engineer, PV Business Development Analyst, Renewable Energy Consultant.
Study Renewable Energy at Cranfield and tackle climate change head-on.
This Renewable Energy MSc will equip you with the advanced knowledge and skills to develop a successful career in the rapidly growing renewable energy sector. A choice of study routes enables you to specialise in developing the latest technical skills required to design renewable energy systems, or to focus on managing renewable engineering projects and systems. Ranked in the UK top 5 for mechanical engineering, Cranfield offers a unique, postgraduate-only environment, unique engineering-scale facilities for the development of efficient renewable energy technologies with low CO2 emissions and a teaching team with extensive experience of solving real-world renewable energy challenges.
Course Modules
Engineering Route Compulsory Modules
- Artificial Intelligence for Sustainability
- Energy Entrepreneurship
- Renewable Energy Technologies 1
- Renewable Energy Technologies 2
- Solar Energy Engineering
- Fluid Mechanics and Loading
Elective Modules
One of the modules from the following list needs to be taken as part of this course.
- Energy Systems Case Studies
- Short Research Project
Elective Modules
One of the modules from the following list needs to be taken as part of this course.
- Hydrogen Production
- Wind Engineering
Management Route Compulsory Modules
- Energy Economics and Policy
- Energy Entrepreneurship
- Engineering Design and Project Management
- Health, Safety and Environmental Risk
- Renewable Energy Technologies 1
- Renewable Energy Technologies 2
- Sustainability and Environmental Assessment
Elective Modules
One of the modules from the following list needs to be taken as part of this course.
- Energy Systems Case Studies
- Short Research Project
- Cranfield University has been ranked amongst the world’s top universities in the latest QS World University Rankings by Subject.
- In Engineering – Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing, Cranfield has been ranked 27th in the world and attained top scores in Employer and Academic Reputation.
It will equip you with the multidisciplinary skills required to design, optimise and evaluate the technical and economic viability of renewable energy schemes. The engineering route will provide you with the technical skills required to design renewable energy systems, including finite element analysis (FEA), computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and technology lifecycle management (TLM).
Alternatively, you can specialise in managing renewable energy projects and systems, focusing on topics such as health and safety and environment, energy entrepreneurship and asset management.
To help students in finding and securing appropriate funding, we have created a funding finder where you can search for suitable sources of funding by filtering the results to suit your needs. Visit the funding finder.
ASEAN-UK: Women in STEM Scholarships
Cranfield University is proud to join the Women in STEM Scholarship initiative by offering six fully funded scholarships for female students from selected countries in East Asia. We are looking for women with a background in STEM who can demonstrate their need for financial support and who wish to inspire future generations of women to pursue careers in STEM.
Master's Loan from Student Finance England
A Master's Loan is now available for UK applicants to help you pay for your Master’s course.
Commonwealth Scholarships for Developing Countries
Students from developing countries who would not otherwise be able to study in the UK can apply for a Commonwealth Scholarship, which includes tuition fees, travel and a monthly stipend for Master’s study.
Chevening Scholarships
Chevening Scholarships are awarded to outstanding emerging leaders to pursue a one-year Master’s at Cranfield University. The scholarship includes tuition fees, travel and a monthly stipend for Master’s study.
Institution of Mechanical Engineers Postgraduate Master's Scholarship
IMechE is offering a number of postgraduate research scholarships worth up to £6,500 to graduates with a 2:1 honours IMechE-accredited BEng (Hons) degree to allow them to undertake an IMechE-accredited Master's degree.
IGEM Postgraduate Master's Scholarship
The Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers (IGEM) is offering postgraduate Master's scholarships worth £6,500 to those studying an Engineering Council-accredited degree.
Lendwise Postgraduate Student Loan
The Lendwise Postgraduate Student Loan provides tuition fees and maintenance loans of between £5,000 and £100,000 for eligible applicants studying at Cranfield University.
Scottish Power Master's Scholarship
The scholarship covers tuition fees and living costs for postgraduate students in engineering, renewable energy, environmental science, cyber security and related fields.
The TAQA Arabia International Scholarship
The TAQA Arabia International Scholarship for Egyptian students will go towards funding the studies of one Master’s degree student per year in the field of renewable energy. The TAQA scholarship covers both tuition fees and living expenses.
Delta Foundation Chevening Scholarships Taiwan
The Chevening/Delta Environmental Scholarship Scheme is designed to promote environmental awareness and increase future activity to tackle environmental issues, in particular climate change, by offering two joint scholarships for students from Taiwan.
With the current global focus on developing low-carbon energy production and renewable energy technologies, you can expect to be highly sought after by employers. Equipped with the expertise to analyse current and future energy needs and to design and implement appropriate solutions, a wide range of careers are open to you, as a professional scientist or engineer across the full breadth of industrial and public sector organisations involved in renewable energy.
Examples of roles our alumni have gone into:
- Energy Transition Engineer/Industrial Engineer/Manufacturing Engineer/Design Engineer/Hydrogen Energy Engineer/Nuclear Power Engineer
- PV Business Development Analyst/Asset Management Analyst/GIS Analyst
- Renewable Energy Consultant/Senior Energy Strategy Consultant/Energy Consultant
- Wind Development Officer
- Customer Service Manager
- Environmental Scientist
In their new careers, our graduates have worked on a diverse and exciting range of renewable energy projects, including:
- Design of new renewable energy solutions,
- Testing and certification of renewable energy technologies,
- Operation and maintenance of renewable energy technologies,
- Technical-environmental analysis of novel renewable energy solutions, such as floating wind turbines and wave energy converters.
This postgraduate degree in renewable energy is designed for engineering, maths or science graduates who wish to develop a successful and rewarding career in the renewable energy sector.
Why this course?
Governments around the world are establishing increasingly ambitious targets for renewable energy use. For example, by 2030, China plans to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in its total energy mix to 20% and Europe to 30%. The Renewable Energy MSc will prepare you for an exciting and rewarding career helping to address the global challenge of moving to a low-carbon economy.
- Study at a top 5-ranked UK university for mechanical, aeronautical and manufacturing engineering,
- Choose to acquire the technical skills required to design renewable energy systems, or focus on developing the capability to manage renewable engineering projects and systems,
- Participate in individual and group projects focused on your personal interests and career aspirations,
- Learn from lecturers with extensive, current experience of working with industry on solving real-world energy challenges,
- Benefit from engineering-scale facilities for the development of efficient technologies with low CO2 emissions.
The taught programme for the Renewable Energy MSc comprises eight modules and is generally delivered from October to February. Each module is typically delivered over two weeks. Generally, the first week involves intensive teaching while the second week has fewer teaching hours to allow time for more independent learning and completion of the assessment. Students on the part-time programme will complete all the modules based on a flexible schedule that will be agreed with the Course Director.
Taught modules 80 credits/800 hours, Group projects 40 credits/400 hours, Individual project 60 credits/600 hours
Group Project
The group project is an applied, multidisciplinary, team-based activity. Often solving real-world, industry-based problems, you and your fellow students will have the opportunity to take responsibility for a consultancy-type project while working under academic supervision. The group project is highly valued by employers for developing your ability to work within agreed objectives, deadlines and budgets, whilst developing transferable skills such as teamwork, self-reflection and effective communication.
Recent group projects include:
- Conversion of consumer waste plastic into new plastics
- Design specification of pilot scale 142 kWth air/rock
- Thermodynamic modelling of using Ca-based sorbents for heavy metal emission control during contaminated biomass combustion
- Conceptual and preliminary design of an SPAR for a 5 MW VAWT
Individual Project
Selected in consultation with the Thesis Co-ordinator and Course Director, the individual project offers the opportunity for you to focus on an area of particular interest and of direct relevance to your career aspirations. It will enable you to develop independent research skills, to think and work in an original way, contribute to knowledge, and overcome real-world problems – particularly as many of the projects are supported by external organisations.
Recent individual projects include:
- Modelling, structural analysis, and optimisation of a 10-metre solar concentrating mirror array for industrial process heat applications,
- Pollution modelling and mitigation strategies through renewable energy technologies in Mexico City,
- Floating offshore wind turbines and support foundations in ultra-deep waters,
- CFD study of a ducted wind turbine,
- Design characterisation of a horizontal plate wave energy converter,
- Fatigue damage analysis of offshore wind monopiles.