The Micro-Grid Academy is the vocational capacity building programme led by RES4Africa Foundation with the support of AVSI, Strathmore University, St. Kizito Vocational Training Institute, Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) and the East African Centre of Excellence for Renewable Energy and Efficiency (EACREEE). It was launched in January 2018 to conduct capacity building activities on energy access and decentralised renewable energy solutions directed towards young technicians, managers and engineers of the East-Africa region, where approximately 70% of the population still has no access to modern energy services. By improving access to electricity not only in the cities, but also in peri-urban areas as well as remote rural communities, it will be possible to strengthen local enterprises, create new jobs opportunities and enhance social and economic development. So far, it has already trained about 500 people.
By sharing their expertise in the field, the participants enriched the course thanks to their different backgrounds and professionalisms. Coming from Kenya and Ethiopia, the future MGA trainers belong to different entities all involved in the energy sector in Africa, such as private companies, public institutions and utilities, universities, vocational training centres and international cooperation agencies. They are energy and electrical engineers, researchers, PhD candidates, project managers, policy advisors and electronic instructors: their different professional experiences as well as their academic specialisations represented an added value to increase the impact and the success of the course and for the future activities of the Micro-Grid Academy, which has always valued the complexity and heterogeneity of the various professional profiles involved in the energy sector.
In the 16 sessions of the course, for a total of 35 hours of training, the experts were able to deepen several topics, which concerned both pedagogical tools and methodologies as well as the design, installation, operation and maintenance of micro-grid systems, with a specific focus on the MGA Standard Curriculum and handbook. The participants were provided with all the materials and also had the opportunity to practise teaching the curriculum content, participating to discussion, peer-reviewing as well as dealing with specific case-studies and working groups.
It especially thanks to the master trainers that the MGA could deliver high quality lessons, counting on experts from AVSI Foundation, EACREEE, EnGreeen and many other specialised organisations from RES4Africa’s network such as BFP, Enel Green Power, Friem, Prysmian, PwC, Rina.
The course was jointly organised by RES4Africa Foundation and Strathmore University with the support of Enel Foundation, which too is committed to accelerate Africa’s clean energy transition through capacity building and advanced education programmes intended for young African professionals, and more and more with the involvement of African trainers.
