Solar energy is already present in West Africa, but unlike North America or Europe, there are no standards for solar panel installation. An international effort is under way to develop certification standards for people working in solar energy in West Africa.
This could help African companies in their efforts to secure financing and it could even help narrow the gender gap.
The International Renewable Energy Agency and Arizona State University signed an agreement in March to develop certification for technicians of off-grid as well as grid-connected solar photovoltaic systems in the region.
The idea is to increase the employability of West African solar technicians by providing them with a standardized set of skills, while giving small solar entrepreneurs trying to expand their businesses standardized certification to show their local lenders. But the socio-economic implications go further than that, said Anshuman Razdan, associate dean and professor at Arizona State University’s College of Technology & Innovation.
“We put a high emphasis on inclusion of gender,” said Razdan, who is principal investigator of the collaboration. “Women generally get cut out of the energy equation even though women control the use of energy the most, whether it is cooking, getting kids to study in the evening and so forth. But they never get to be at the table. Those are the kind of things that set us apart from just any training organization. We are interested in a broad set of things, and really from a social-techno aspect of it to move the needle forward.”
Initial countries to be included in certification training include Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Senegal.
People in all four countries speak French and are part of the West African Economic and Monetary Union. The plan is to come up with a competency standard that will be applicable on a regional basis, and then possibly expand to four more French-speaking countries that are part of the monetary union.
In North America, some standards and certification exist through the North American Board of Certified Energy Professionals (NACEP). Photovoltaic solar technicians can take an exam offered by NACEP and for certification depending on the capabilities to install, repair, troubleshoot and maintain solar systems including off-grid, on-grid, small and large systems.
Why is this important? Banks that lend money to businesses want to know if the companies — and their workforce — are qualified to do the work.
“So beyond (North America), especially in Africa, there is no standard certification process and it kind of creates a bit of a chicken-and-egg story of small businesses wanting to get into the solar business but can’t get financing and loans from banks. (Banks say) ‘Well, where’s your skilled labor pools? Who I lending money to?’ It’s not a pleasant situation,” Razdan said.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, is a global organization that promotes renewable energy sources across the world, especially in developing countries. Because the demand for technicians who can install solar PV is increasing, IRENA asked Arizona State University to help establish solar installation certification standards for developing countries.
It’s a project similar to ones Arizona State and the Renewable Energy Agency have worked on together in the past in the Pacific islands. Arizona State also has another project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development Vocational Training and Education for Clean Energy. Arizona State plays the leadership role and plans to do solar vocational training in Kenya in June.
Razdan visited East Africa in November and made a stop Abu Gabi – IRENA’s headquarters in UAE. “One of the things that I heard from Tanzania, Kenya and other places was the need for certification,” Razdan said. “We had a meeting in Abu Gabi on the idea of certification. They said let’s start with West Africa and if it’s successful they would like to go to East African countries, and perhaps then to India and Nepal and other countries as well.”
The Renewable Energy Agency’s partnership with Arizona State University makes sense. Located in Tempe outside of Phoenix, ASU is considered a world leader in solar research, power-grid management and sustainability. In 2004, a $15-million contribution to Arizona State established the university’s Global Institute of Sustainability. From that institute grew the world’s first school of sustainability, which opened in January 2007. The university’s solar power lab serves as a staging ground for new solar energy technologies. Its solar panel reliability testing is recognized globally through its photovoltaics reliability lab.
The West Africa solar certification program at Arizona State University is coordinated through the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering College Technology & Innovation.
“Unlike nonprofits or private corporations, being an educational institution, we are very committed to the idea of sustainability from a human capacity standpoint because that’s what we do — we train people all the time,” Razdan said. “We don’t want to just train the technicians. We want to ensure that the local faculty are trained as they, in turn, can cheaply and effectively train hundreds more people than we would be able to do sitting in Phoenix, Arizona.”
Arizona State University is in the early stages of trying to get political and technical stakeholders to come together, in essence, “to agree that this is a good idea,” Razdan said.
The first stage will include one- or two-day workshops in target countries with key stakeholders to garner political and policy-level support from training institutions, government agencies, utility companies and regulatory authorities.
“First you need to get a buy-in from the political stakeholders that this is a good idea,” Razdan says. “Second, then to create technical committees that we can take something like a North American Board of Certified Energy Professionals model and tweak it to the West African needs.”
Setting up those regional technical committees will ensure the development of solar technical competency standards meet local needs of the particular country. Such an independent committee is also important to ensure actual compliance with the standards set.
“You cannot leave it to the institutions that do the training to also administer the testing or certification because you’re going to get the age-old incestuous type of situation,” Razdan said. “You want to create a regional body that is independent of those institutions.”
Arizona State University faculty will work with the Renewable Energy Agency to develop a curriculum geared towards local cultures, economics and technologies that will be used to train the trainers. Arizona State will also help secure grants for necessary lab equipment for training.
“From a sustainability perspective, we want to train local trainers so that they in turn can train forever their local countrymen,” Razdan said.
The goal is for the first workshop for stakeholders to happen in May. Certification standards should be in place by September or October.
“Essentially, I expect soon after October, as soon as January 2015, we might have our first training,” Razdan said. “Some of it is a little bit hazy because we’ll have to see which countries are more willing — some will be the leaders, some will want to see somebody else go first.”
