The Sun--My Internship At SEC

This year I did my internship at Solar Energy Centre (SEC), a  dedicated unit of the Ministry Of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).The Centre is recognized today as a leading institution for Solar Resource Assessment, Solar Building Designs, Testing and Standardization of solar devices. My earlier internships were in the private sector, so working as an intern here gave me first hand experience of the working of a government enterprise. Just as in many other government institutes, there wasn't much to do for the interns. I, however was fortunate enough to get a very good mentor. Knowing that my field is solar itself (there aren't many students in this field), he gave me a project on Stand Alone Solar Photovoltaics--basically i had to come up with the blueprints of a Settlement completely powered by Solar PV Modules (off the grid).Plus he gave me additional minor projects like testing of solar modules, rooftop solar modules etc.

These projects had me working out in the sun, during the afternoon hours and it was darn hot--read temperature >45 degrees. Then there was the the loo blowing all the time. You can say its our occupational hazard working in the solar industry. When I was not in the sun getting tanned, I was in the library reading topics of semiconductor physics; plus they had air conditioning there. The topics in Solar studies are extensive and you need to be have a thorough understanding of the physics behind solar photovoltaics.

During Testing Of the solar modules, most of the time was spent in the testing labs. It was a routine exercise, carried everyday and it was a good experience to work with machines about which you only have read in the textbooks. During these tests I came to know which companies were making good modules and companies which were making..well,  not good modules. But due to legal implications I won't be disclosing their names.

I would say the two months I spent at SEC was a fruitful experience. I learnt a lot from my mentor who was  very well versed in the subject and all too happy to teach me. The best part was learning about the minute details, which if ignored could manifest themselves into bigger problems. I got to work on simulation software and learnt a lot about the solar industry. It was a Summer vacation well spent.

Paritosh Saini

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