Wednesday, June 11, 2014: The BJP-led NDA Government at the centre recently announced that it is planning to set up four solar power plants of 1,000 MW each in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, in order to accelerate India’s solar energy programme substantially. Also, taking inspiration from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Gujarat model, more notably Gandhinagar’s rent-a-roof project, the Delhi government recently sent three teams of top officials from the government, power distribution companies and experts to the state to study the feasibility of the same in the national capital. All these recent efforts go on to show that India is well on the verge of a solar power revolution in the days to come, however, when that happens there’s one problem the country is more likely to face: a shortage of skilled manpower.
For Sudeep Jain, who is the chairman and managing director of Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA), that is gearing up to install 300,000 home and 100,000 street solar lighting systems in the next five years, finding good manpower for a few thousand installations every week is a major challenge. As such, TEDA is planning to set up a separate pavilion for training aspiring solar professional at its annual renewable energy event, Renergy, between 12-14 June in Chennai.
While a B Tech (Solar) might sound an obvious but far-fetched choice, experts believe the industry must seek to provide an ecosystem for solar-specific training in major aspects like feasibility studies, technical detailed project report, technology selection, design and operation and maintenance. While others believe there is a gradual need to train electricians, ITI students in plant assembly, operation and maintenance.