Phase Two of USP/ Arizona State University VOCTEC Programme Begins
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 | USP School of Engineering and Physics (SEP) Head, Associate professor, Dr Atul Raturi (centre), with SEP trainers and participants at the solar technicians' workshop |
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The USP School of Engineering and Physics (SEP) conducted a Solar Technician’s workshop from Monday 24 June to Friday, 28 June, 2013.
The week-long workshop was the second phase of the USP/ Arizona State University (ASU) Vocational Training and Education for Clean Energy (VOCTEC) programme, that followed from the ‘Training of Trainers’ (ToT) workshop that took place in February last year.
The VOCTEC programme aims to help improve the sustainability of renewable energy investments and infrastructure by increasing the regional capacity of qualified technical trainers and technicians to install, operate, and troubleshoot off-grid solar photovoltaic (PV) systems.
The training which took place at the new Renewable Energy Training Centre near the Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment (FSTE) car park was attended by 14 solar technicians from around Fiji.
The five trainers, who led the workshop, are all USP SEP staff.
Head of SEP, Associate Professor, Dr Atul Raturi, said the training had been very successful and the response from the participants had been very positive.
“This training is at two levels- one was to ‘train the trainer’ which was a workshop held this February, and the other level is this one, where these trainers from USP, are training technicians from around Fiji,” he said.
“We are working together with the ASU, on this United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded project. This time, the USP trainers will train solar technicians based in the rural/ island areas of Fiji,” Dr Raturi added.
He said the purpose of the training was to draw on the relevance and significance of using renewable energy.
The trainings are part of a two-year solar PV capacity-building programme customized for the Pacific Islands to support the sustainability of off-grid solar energy installations and help in the reduction of carbon emissions.
The VOCTEC workshops emulate the goals of the USP’s Strategic Plan 2013-2018 which highlights the University’s commitment towards promoting sustainable development in the region.
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