Renewable Energy Training in Pacific Island Developing States

This document was prepared by the United Nations - Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). This was prepared for the Regional Energy Meeting,        29 November - 3 December, PNG, 2004. The paper intended to spur discussions on modalities for developing the training processes and training capacity needed in order to meet a substantial part of the energy demand in PIDS through renewable energy. While past use of non-hydro renewable energy in the Pacific has focused on small scale remote power systems, demands are rapidly shifting towards the use of renewable energy for mainstream energy development. Though rural electrification using solar energy still has great potential for improving the lives or rural people in FSM, RMI, Kiribati and Melanesia, the effect of rural energy development on the national energy economy for those countries will be small. For renewable energy to be a real part of the energy future for the region, large scale use of grid connected hydro, wind, biomass, geothermal and solar PV will be necessary. The training requirements for these technologies are very different both in scope and in scale from those of the past, where bringing together a few technician trainees on an outer island to learn how to install and maintain fifteen or twenty solar systems was considered to be high quality training. The scope is much larger, not just because of more technologies and larger installations, but also because every country in the region has the opportunity and need to participate, while in the past, only a few countries have been serious about renewable energy implementation.