Practical session for Econet engineers
SIRDC’s Energy Technology Institute has to date trained a total of 80 Econet engineers on Solar PV Systems Design and Installation. The training was customized to meet the requirements of backup power for Econet mobile phone base stations.
The Solar Photovoltaic Design and Installation training mainly focuses on off-grid systems. It covers the theory of solar components (solar panels, batteries, charge controllers, inverters, etc) as well as their design, installation and maintenance requirements.
Grid connected solar PV is a field which is still in its infancy in Zimbabwe as evidenced by the low penetration levels of solar in the utility grid. There is a huge mismatch between the licensed electricity generation capacity and the actual installed capacity where financing and technical expertise are identified as some of the key drawbacks to the adoption of the technology. Thus, this course makes a huge contribution to the development of commercial solar technology in the country.
