IEEE-PVSC : INDUSTRIAL FORUM - PV TRAININGS: HOW TO TRAIN PEOPLE FOR LOCAL GW PRODUCTION AND DEPLOYMENT

The IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference held an industrial forum on PV training that asked the question “How to train people for local GW production and deployment”. Chaired by Pierre Verlinden from YIST, the panel was composed of :

• PVtraining Production for Vertical Integrated GW PV Factories, Radovan Kopecek. ISC Konstanz

• Sharing Over a Decade of Experience in Developing and Offering On-Campus and Online PV Education Arno Smets. Technical University Delft (TU Delft)

• The Road To A Sustainable PV Career Janell Hills-Thomas. Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC)

• PV Education The Hero We Deserve but Not The One We Need Right Now? Ian Marius Peters. Forschungszentrum Julich GmbH (JULICH)

• Practical PV Education at UNSW, Ned Ekins-Daukes. UNSW

NED reported that The School of Photovoltaic & Renewable Energy Engineering at UNSW has provided the environment to train over 2100 engineers over the last twenty years, many of whom lead the largest solar energy manufacturers in the world. He emphasised that to achieve rapid training at scale, resources should be open and accessible to all. UNSW has innovated with PV education over decades, establishing the first degree courses in PV Engineering and developing powerful teaching resources such as the Virtual Pilot Line where students can gain an appreciation of running a solar cell manufacturing line in a virtual environment.