Class Syllabus:

First undergraduate class on power and energy systems. Broad introduction to all aspects of how power systems functions, including generation and transmission of electrical energy, power electronics, wind and solar, and electrical machines and drives. For more complete information on the requirements and expectation of the class, see syllabus.

This website is used for most of the materials posted in this class. The Canvas Site is only used for posting grades and homework submission.

Class: Tuesday, Thursday, 2:30pm-4:20pm, MUE 153.
Instructor: Baosen Zhang, zhangbao@uw.edu, Office: ECE M310.
Labs: Labs start in the third week of class.
TA: Trager Joswig-Jones, joswitra@uw.edu; Lauren Streitmatter, lstreit@uw.edu

Office Hours:

  1. My office hours: Wednesdays, 11am to noon, ECE M310.
  2. TA office hours: Tuesdays 1:30-2:30pm, Thursdays at noon to 1pm, ECE 215F
  3. You’re welcome to schedule other times by emailing one of us.

Textbook:

  1. Required textbook: Daniel S. Kirschen, “Power Systems: Fundamental Concepts and the Transition to Sustainability. John Wiley & Sons, 2024
  2. Good reference: Mohamed A. El-Sharkawi, “Electrical Energy: An Introduction”

Note:

  1. AI tools, such as ChatGPT, present opportunities that can contribute to your learning and academic work. If you use such tools, you must clearly state where they are used and how they contributed to your work. Otherwise, using these technologies may violate academic standards of the University. This includes, but is not limited to, copying the homework question into an LLM and presenting the answer as your own.
  2. The exams are in class and closed book. You may bring one sheet of letter-sized paper and a calculator.

Structure:

  1. There will be weekly homework assignments. Late homework are not accepted without prior permission from the instructor.
  2. There are three labs. Late lab reports are not accepted without prior permission from the instructor.
  3. Grade distribution: homework 25%, labs 25%, midterm 25%, final 25%

Midterm and Finals:

  1. Midterm
  2. Final

Schedule of Classes:

  1. Introduction, slides
  2. AC circuits and Phasor Analysis, slides
  3. Power Electronics,
  4. Energy Resources, Solar Energy
  5. Wind Energy,
  6. Hydro,
  7. Three Phase,
  8. Synchronous Machines,
  9. Transformers,
  10. Induction Motor,
  11. Blackouts,

Labs:

Lab groups are determined once the class starts, including starting times for each group.

Lab Manuals:

  1. Lab introduction: [Lab Syllabus], [Lab Rules]
  2. [Lab 1 material]
  3. [Lab 2 material]
  4. [Lab 3 material]

You can find recorded videos about these labs on Youtube, feel free to watch them to familiarize yourself with the labs.

Homework Assignments:

  1. Homework 1, due on 11:59pm on April 9th, 2026. Submit to https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1883403/assignments/11346093

For course policies, please see the syllabus.