Ministry
of Petroleum and Energy, in collaboration with the United Nations
Industrialized Development Organization (UNIDO) recently organized a two-week
training on renewable energy module trading for secondary, vocational and
higher education institutions.
The
activity is under the UNIDO/GEF5 project that recently developed and validated
The Gambia renewable energy training modules. The modules were developed to
enhance technical capacities and engender a culture of entrepreneurship among
Gambian young people, through valuable training programs to increase their
knowledge and understanding in areas of production, design, installation,
operation and maintenance of renewable energy systems and technologies.
Gabriel
Latjor Ndow, trainer and consultant at Beltech said the training is the
combination of the outcome enacted from the validation workshop of the training
module for renewable energy.
He
said the training was specifically for vocational tertiary and higher
education, which was solar PV, SOLAR thermal and wind power.
He
said one cannot cover solar PV alone in few days talk less of all the three but
they have tried to give the trainees the radical construction of the branches
as well as some of the applications and demonstrations that they need.
Amadou
Baldeh, a representative of GTTI said the training was educative in the field
of solar PV, solar thermal and wind power, saying those are the fields that
generate green energy for the community.
“People
are now trying to get away from fossil fuels to the new type of energy
production and solar PV is predominantly one of the best form of energy
projection for electricity in Africa where you have abundant solar radiation
and installation for the production of electricity,” he said.
Dodou
Trawally, executive director of National Environment Agency and Global
Environment facility (GEF) focal point in The Gambia said due to scarcity of
time, all cannot be dealt with in detail and there might be other things the
participants would like to get to know.
Kemo
Ceesay, director of energy at the ministry of Petroleum and Energy said the
purpose of the project is to increase the knowledge and technical skills on
renewable energy, saying in The Gambia, most of the electricity supply is based
on fossil fuel which is all imported and not sustainable for the country.
