wolfgangtiefensee-172

New Walvis Bay based maxx-solar academy successfully launched

On 9th November, Thuringian Minister of Economy cut the red ribbon and officially opened the maxx-solar academy Namibia at the Windhoek Country Club.

Mr. Wolfgang Tiefensee, Thuringian Minister of Economy, Mr. Ulrich Kinne from the German Embassy in Namibia and Mr. Andreas Krey from the State Development Corporation Thuringia officially inaugurated the maxx-solar academy in Namibia on Wednesday. The opening ceremony was part of the visit of the German delegation in Namibia and gave a best practice example of German-Namibian cooperation.

 

About the concept

The newly founded training academy offers short courses in the field of solar Photovoltaic. The aim is to give entrepreneurs and company staff members the opportunity to improve their knowledge in this rather new part of technology without having to spend half a year in school again. The first trainings that are offered are a Sunrise Intermediate Course, a basic course with all foundations of solar PV, and the Solar Power Designer course, a professional course to learn exact planning and design of PV systems.

In 2011, maxx-solar academy South Africa was founded by Antje Klauss-Vorreiter from the German Solar Energy Society with support of the German company maxx-solar & energie. The academy grew over the years and also attracted many foreign participants including Namibians. This week Namibia finally inaugurated its own branch of the academy (Walvis Bay and Otjiwarongo). The Namibian partners are Dirk Bellens from Young Africa Namibia Trust based in Walvis Bay and Leonhard Eins from Solsquare Namibia – Windhoek. Dirk who has a Master’s degree in Environmental Science from the Netherlands is the official director of the academy, he and his colleague Taurai Mirimi will be the main trainers in the country.

The trainings are managed centrally from the maxx-solar academy headquarter in Weimar, Germany who also delivers the content of the lectures according international quality standards. The training itself is performed by the local academies who know their country and participants best and can combine the German technology know-how with local experience.

 

Focus on quality

So far, there are no official quality standards for photovoltaic installations in Namibia. Experience shows that this attracts many market participants and leads to poor quality installations. The maxx-solar academy targets business owners and solar companies who are already in operation or think about expanding into solar PV as a new business field. The courses are between 1.5 and 5 days long and give the participants the opportunity to attend without missing too much from their existing work life.

All trainings in the maxx-solar academy focus on practical application, the participants do a lot of hands-on exercises and the trainers mostly work in the field themselves and can teach the participants real life cases. What differs the maxx-solar academy from other training providers is its broad alumni network. The training itself is independent but if the participants want to get support with the founding of their own solar company, maxx-solar energy PTY Ltd. offers frequent alumni meetings, networking events and helps with the planning and design of first projects.

 

More information?

The next Intermediate Sunrise course will be organised 6 and 7 March 2017 in Otjiwarongo and 24 and 25 April 2017 in Walvis Bay. Others courses can be found on the internet at https://maxx-energy.arlo.co/na/upcoming-courses. For more information please contact Dirk Bellens, namibia@maxx-energy-academy.org.

 

Press contact: Dirk Bellens

maxx-solar academy

Office: 064 202280, Mobile: 081 6203095, namibia@maxx-energy-academy.org,
http://www.maxx-energy.co.za

 

Pictures

Picture 01: Inauguration Ceremony (see above)

On the picture from left to right: Antje Klauss-Vorreiter (founder maxx-solar academy South Africa) , Dirk Bellens (director maxx-solar academy Namibia), Wolfgang Tiefensee (Minister of Economy, Science and Digital Society of the State of Thuringia), Leonhard Eins (Managing Director Solsquare Namibia), Ullrich Kinne (Deputy Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Namibia) and Andreas Krey from the State Development Corporation Thuringia

Picture02: Dirk Bellens presents the local partner Young Africa and the objective of the maxx I solar academy Namibia

 

 

PLEASE NOTE:

© Picture: Julia Janse van Vuuren, +27 72 5194637; info@julia-jansevanvuuren.co.za