Page - 43 - in Clean Water Using Solar and Wind - Outside the Power Grid

The renewable energy revolution 43 by non-specialist workers, who can mostly be recruited locally. This means that assembling renewable energy systems can offer both rural and urban employment. To mount large wind turbines requires more special equipment and trained personnel. Naturally the need for advanced equipment is not as high for smaller wind turbines. It is apparent that off-grid renewable energy deployment cannot be successful without technical assistance and human capacity-building. Education at different levels is a key ingredient. In a recent publication concerning electrification Dr Lawrence Jones, Vice President of International Programs at the Edison Electric Institute, suggested (Jones, 2018) that in order to achieve electric energy for all we need to think in terms of a metric expressed as “the number of engineers, technicians etc. per MW”. Jones also points out that sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia need to substantially boost the number and capacity of engineers and technicians who can develop, install, operate and repair the components of both grid and off-grid equipment. An extensive analysis of job opportunities in the renewable energy industry in India is presented in CEEW (2017). Job opportunities in renewable energy are further examined in Chapter 12.2. 3.9 FURTHER READING IEA and IRENA are key sources for a lot of information concerning renewable energy. IEA (2017b), IRENA (2016c, 2017a) and REN21 (2017a, 2017b) provide a lot of data. IRENA (2016a) contains statistical information on renewable energy for each country. Solar home systems are described in detail in Lighting Africa (2013) and BNEF and Lighting Global (2016). The World Energy Council is a rich source of information on solar and wind development (WEC, 2016). Varadi (2017) and Varadi et  al. (2018) provide inside information and a broad overview of solar energy and its role in Africa and in the Middle East. Mounting of solar panels does not require highly skilled specialists or advanced equipment. Downloaded from https://iwaponline.com/ebooks/book-pdf/520710/wio9781780409443.pdf by IWA Publishing user