Solar thermal information dissemination and training continues in Zimbabwe

The SOLTRAIN team in Zimbabwe continued to fulfill its training mandate in the country despite challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic during the second quarter of the year. The workshops included training and dissemination workshops and covered four towns - Masvingo, Harare, Bulawayo and Kwekwe -  drawing a total of 133 participants, among which 23 were women.

Masvingo Polytechnic

This workshop was conducted remotely by Rudi Moschik from AEE INTEC with most of the participants in Masvingo and another participant joining online from Johannesburg. The aim of the workshop was to foster regional solar thermal uptake as far south as Chiredzi in the Lowveld region and included participants from the Lowveld Technical College. This is a region with an established ecotourism sector where the provision of hot water is important, and participants also included members of the Zimbabwe Institute of Wildlife Conservation.

South-East Management Centre

The target audience for this training workshop was women and youth and the workshop was hosted by Sustenergy and Stinx Electrical. Both of these companies have women directors and 6 of the 16 participants were women. The week ended with physical training and practicals were held for 4 participants from the Ministry of National Housing and Public Works in Harare at Zimdef House and University of Zimbabwe jointly.  

Bulawayo Polytechnic

This dissemination workshop saw SOLTRAIN engineers Mhlanga, Mnkadla and Munhuwamabo running a dissemination workshop at the Bulawayo Polytechnic for 51 participants which included participants from the Westgate Vocational Centre, National Railways of Zimbabwe Signals School and the Defence Force of Zimbabwe Training Centre.

Kwekwe Polytechnic

This dissemination workshop was hosted at the Kwekwe Polytechnic for 33 participants. It reached the satellite colleges in Gokwe North and Gokwe South. Pumped and thermosiphon systems were the focus and the workshop stimulated solar thermal uptake and installation requests from the hosting institutions and the surrounding settlements. The aim was to continue with the dissemination workshops being hosted by universities and polytechnics around the country.