Milan, November 29th, 2019
Enel Foundation and RES4Africa Foundation continue their long-lasting commitment to accelerate Africa’s clean energy transition through advanced training and vocational education opportunities.
For the sixth year, high-achieving individuals with relevant professional involvement in the shaping and deployment of renewable energy solutions across the African continent have joined the 2019 Advanced Training Course (ATC) on Renewable Energy Solutions. The program, which counts more than 300 alumni, is supported by full scholarships granted by Enel Foundation and was organized in collaboration with the Graduate School of Business of Politecnico di Milano (MIP) and Bocconi University, from November 18 to 29th.
Roberto Vigotti, Secretary General of RES4Africa Foundation, commented on the sidelines of the Diploma awarding ceremony on November 29, “I am sure that, with the skills and competences participants acquired, they will be in an even stronger position to ensure the deployment of renewable energy in Africa, which will widen access to energy and ensure the continent’s energy transition”.
The sixth edition of RES4Africa Foundation’s longest ongoing training course involved 60 participants including African middle-managers serving in public institutions, energy companies, universities and research agencies, and 20 Italian PhD, master students and researchers. The diversity of the personal and professional backgrounds of the participants contributed to the development of fruitful and positive debates during classes, encouraging the constitution of a network of international experts.
Carlo Papa, Director of Enel Foundation added, “we are proud to have cooperated in the crafting of the 6th edition of the Advanced Training Course on Renewable Energy organized with our long-standing partner RES4AFRICA Foundation for professionals in the public and private sector in Africa. We welcome the participation of Italian PhD and Master students and researchers to increase networking opportunities and cross-fertilization”.
Additional training and vocational education in Africa
The ATC course is not the only initiative uniting Enel Foundation and RES4Africa Foundation on their commitment to accelerate skills development in Africa. Another recent initiative, in cooperation with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), aimed at promoting energy modelling capabilities for regional energy planners in Africa. Two sessions of "Capacity Building Workshop on Modelling for Regional Energy Planning", were organized in Ethiopia focusing on the functionality and uses of the OSeMOSYS modelling framework, to understand, use and develop energy system analyses both on a large and small scale, and on OnSSET, an open-source spatial electrification tool.
On the vocational education side, the Micro Grid Academy is another relevant initiative allowing participants to acquire skills needed for energy access and decentralized renewable energy solutions. Enel Foundation has been a supporter of this initiative by RES4AFRICA Foundation since its launch, in 2018, and contributed to train more than 300 people mainly from the East-African countries as well as Ethiopia, Somaliland and Zambia.
The 8th training session recently concluded in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and the following one was announced to take place in Nairobi, Kenya from 20 to 24 January 2020. The focus will be on basic components of decentralized energy systems, rural community needs and demand assessment, with hands-on learning in labs about renewable energy technology.
The forthcoming session is endorsed by EACREEE, and organized in partnership with the national Kenyan Utility KPLC, Strathmore University, AVSI Foundation and St. Kizito Vocational Training Institute. To support the theoretical lectures with practical learning, a hybrid mini-grid will be installed at St. Kizito Vocational Training Institute thanks to the contribution of RES4Africa members.
Directed towards African young technicians, managers and engineers, this program focuses on micro-grids as one of the available options for generation capacity increase in Africa to solve raising urban and rural electricity needs.