Remote Energy works with Solar Electric Light Fund to create a National Solar Training Center in Haiti

SUMMARY

Remote Energy is working with Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) to create the first 2-year national training program in Haiti for their new National Solar Training Center at Haiti Tec, a local technical college in Port-au-Prince. This program will serve to develop a skilled workforce to address the country’s expanding solar infrastructure. 

The first 40-week class started in October 2017 with 31 students, including 15 women on scholarships provided by the Canadian NGO, Centre for International Studies. The written curriculum has been translated into French, and the instruction is now taught in Creole by local trainers. The theory lessons are augmented by the well-equipped hands-on lab facility, where students practice installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting skills to solidify the theory learned in class.

CURRICULUM DETAILS

Remote Energy’s role in this project is spearheading the curriculum development and hands on activities of the new program for SELF and training the local instructors. The Remote Energy team worked with local installers and technicians to create a program targeted to the market conditions in Haiti, and uses equipment in the labs that can be purchased locally.

Year 1 Installation, Maintenance, Troubleshooting, 40 weeks: The first year focuses on installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting skills for off-grid systems. Semester 1 concentrates on solar fundamentals and small battery-based systems up to 1 kW. Semester 2 moves to more complex equipment for battery-based systems up to 10 kW.

Year 2 Design & Project Implementation, 40 weeks: The second year focuses on designing battery-based systems and choosing appropriate equipment for the application. Project installation planning, performance evaluation, and business development are some of the second-year topics. The goal is to prepare the graduates to work with solar in all types of systems: off-grid, hybrid, mini-grid, and grid-tied systems.

SOLAR LAB YARD

A key element of the professional training course is a well-equiped lab with line Photovoltaic (PV) systems of the typse graduates are likely to encounter. The objective in having a strong hands-on training program is that students are ready to be productive and employable as soon as they graduate. Students need to show competency in making tool and materials lists, using safety equipment and procedures, good installation practices, and safe commissioning as part of this program. 

TRAINING TRAINERS

Haiti Tec’s existing technical instructors stepped up to learn how to teach solar and are now leading the daily instruction for the program. The instructors are competent and enthusiastic, and they are making an impact of the lives of the students in the course.  The lead professor at Haiti Tec has many years of solar design and installation experience. Remote Energy trained the instructors not only on theory lessons but on how to safely teach novice students installation practices on operating systems