NCEPU is a national key university of "Project 211" with "Energy and Electricity" as its characteristic disciplines under the direct administration of the Ministry of Education, and is dedicated to providing professional talent training and scientific and technological support for the realization of the national strategy of energy and electric power. In order to meet the need of professionals for the development of renewable energy in China, with the support of the National Energy Administration, the Ministry of Education and China's renewable energy industry, NCEPU established the first School of Renewable Energy in China in 2007 through the integration of electrical, power, machinery, automation and other disciplines. In Apr. 2020, the School of Renewable Energy was renamed the School of New Energy.

The school's development goal is to become a world-class talent training and scientific and technological innovation base for new energy majors, and to provide talent and scientific and technological support for the development of new energy in China and even the world.

The school now has four research centers, namely, the Solar Energy Research and Engineering Center, the New Energy Materials and Devices Research Center, the Wind Power Research Center, and the Biomass Energy Research Center. The school has 85 faculty members, including 18 professors, 31 associate professors, 12 lecturers, 5 laboratory technicians and 6 post-doctors. 100% of the teachers have doctoral degrees.

The school has four national, provincial and ministerial scientific research platforms, namely, the State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources (School of New Energy partly involved), the National Engineering Laboratory for Biomass Power Generation Equipment, the Beijing Key Laboratory of Energy Safety and Clean Utilization, and the Beijing Key Laboratory of New Thin Film Solar Cells.

The school currently has two undergraduate majors: New Energy Science and Engineering, a key construction major of first-class majors in Beijing universities, and New Energy Materials and Devices, one of the first national first-class undergraduate major construction programs. The school has also established a "New Energy Innovation Experimental Class". There are currently 797 undergraduate students, 67 doctoral candidates and 198 postgraduates in the school, totaling 1,062.

Based on the two first-level disciplines of "Electrical Engineering" and "Power Engineering and Engineering Thermophysics", the University has set up the "Renewable Energy and Clean Energy" interdisciplinary doctoral degree authorization unit to cultivate the doctoral candidates of "Renewable Energy and Clean Energy". At the same time, the school has the academic master’s degree authorization unit of "Renewable Energy and Clean Energy" and two master majors of "Energy Power" and "Materials and Chemical". The "Clean Energy Science" of the school was selected as the "High-grade, Precision and Advanced Discipline of Beijing Universities".

In recent years, the school has made great progress in scientific research. It has won more than 20 provincial and ministerial awards, published more than 30 textbooks, and obtained more than 200 patents. The school has published more than 1,000 papers in important academic journals both at home and abroad, including more than 300 papers included in authoritative international SCI journals such as Nature Energy, and more than 500 papers included in EI. The school has undertaken 100 national key research and development programs, key projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, major international cooperation projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, etc., with a total research funding of nearly RMB 500 million.

The school actively carries out international cooperation and exchanges, and has established talent training and scientific research cooperation relations with universities, research institutions and enterprises in many countries such as University of Cambridge, University of Manchester, University of Bath, Cranfield University, University of Strathclyde, University of California Davis, University of Texas Arlington, National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, University of New South Wales, Uppsala University Sweden, University of Malardalen, Royal Institute of Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Aalborg University, Electricite de France, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPSL), Franhofer Institute of Wind Energy and Energy Systems Technology (IWES), and Polytechnic University of Madrid.

In the face of the urgent need for higher education to build a modern socialist power in the new era, the school will stay true to its original aspiration, keep in mind its mission, focus on the fundamental task of cultivating people by virtue, and center on the country's strategic demand for energy and environment to constantly explore and innovate, extend the content of the discipline, enhance the ability of education, teaching and scientific research and build a world-class talent training and scientific research base in the field of new energy.

Supervisior's information: 华北电力大学新能源学院 (ncepu.edu.cn)