Northeast Brazil enjoys a privileged position regarding renewable energy sources, recommended to be considered in modern development projects, which attract interest from researchers seeking for solutions to the problems faced by the region.

The proposal to create the Graduate Program in Renewable Energies (In Portuguese, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Energias Renováveis - PPGER) originated from efforts to take over research focused on renewable energies in the state of Paraíba as well as to form specialists and professionals to meet the increasing demands of the work environment.

Focused on science, PPGER aims to establish renewable energy strategies as well as comprehend the issues associated with renewable energy and its development - including technical, economic, technological, geopolitical and environmental challenges at short-, medium- and long term. PPGER will develop research with emphasis on the area of renewable energies, along three research lines: Renewable energy systems; Environment, economy and enhanced energy utilization; and Applied materials to renewable energies.

In harmony with the research policy of UFPB, PPGER is positioned towards the valorization of qualification of professors, researchers and related professionals in renewable energies, enabling them to develop constructive pedagogic practices, carry out ethical and responsible activities, and to promote investigations that contribute to advances in scientific and technological knowledge as well as of new products according to their research lines, which are subjects of increasing demands in the country.

Following the expansion policies of the undergraduate courses, PPGER will contribute to strengthen the Undergraduate Course in Renewable Energy Engineering. Such an enrichment will be generated by constant updating of professors, which will share knowledge according to the state-of-the-art to the undergraduate students.

The proposal of PPGER is to support the demand generated by the renewable energy sector in the country, especially in the Northeast region. Such a necessity of human resources with adequate technical-scientific background has been confirmed by the distribution of jobs in the work force, and followed by the number of openings in graduate programs of the region.

LEVEL: ACADEMIC MASTER (stricto sensu) 

CAPES GRADE:  3 (CAPES is a Foundation within the Ministry of Education in Brazil whose central purpose is to coordinate efforts to improve the quality of Brazil’s faculty and staff in higher education through grant programs.)

SITUATION: 

The academic Master's course in Renewable Energies will start in March/2014, being approved by the Technical-Scientific Committee of CAPES during its149^th meeting (Sept 9-13, 2013).