Business
Southern Africa Riding The SOLTRAIN To Solar Thermal Jobs
Solar thermal energy projects are popping up around Southern Africa, and the largest potential for that market is solar thermal cooling, aka air conditioning. All it will take for this market to bust wide open is a few solar entrepreneurs to tweak the cooling technology so its cost can come down.
Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Lesotho and Zimbabwe are all pursuing various forms of solar thermal energy sources. The Southern African Solar Thermal Training and Demonstration Initiative, or SOLTRAIN, partnered with research universities to support local manufacturers and solar technicians in growing their businesses by improving solar thermal technology and training the workforce.
While the SOLTRAIN project has helped promote underutilized solar thermal technology and training since 2009, the partner countries have moved into phase 2 of the project to further speed the deployment of solar thermal applications. “SOLTRAIN 2 is going to fund 75 systems in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Mozambique,” said Werner Weiss, managing director of the Austrian Institute for Sustainable Technologies and South Africa SOLTRAIN project leader, in an AFKInsider interview.
The Austrian Development Agency financed the solar thermal system projects during the first phase one of SOLTRAIN and has agreed to sponsor the phase two. Both phases are implemented by Austria’s Institute for Sustainable Technologies.
The ultimate goal is to contribute to the switch from fossil fuel to a sustainable energy supply. Up to 40 percent of the electricity used in the 15-member Southern Africa Development Community region is for domestic hot water preparation only, according to the Austrian Institute for Sustainable Technologies. But the immediate goal, as the name suggests, is to build up solar thermal training capacities in the participating countries, create new jobs at small and medium enterprises, and strengthen political support for solar thermal system use.
