By Anne Sunkuyia
KenGen- Geothermal Training Centre has continued to increase enrolment of students in various short-term programmes intended to meet skill needs of priority sector of power and energy.
The Centre supports the development of accredited demand-driven programmes which will increase the employment prospects of graduates in the priority sector of power and energy, six months after graduation. This will impact quality and provide up to-date technical skills to human resources within the energy sector in the region in order to close the skill gaps related to introduction of new techniques and technologies and to provide the necessary training related to the development of energy resources.
Riding on the solid KenGen brand name and its association with excellent training services, the Centre has since expanded its mandate and grown in reputation in training and development in the energy sector, attracting government and corporate-sponsored trainees from across the continent.
This month, the Centre has implemented a one-week Geothermal energy short term training course sponsored by JICA for twenty (20) trainees from Tanzania Geothermal Development Company (TGDC). In line with JICA’s energy strategy, which is to improve energy access, supply of stable power with a focus on geothermal power generation through human resource development in the East African region, JICA Tanzania office organized this capacity building initiative on various areas of geothermal development for the Tanzania Geothermal Development Company (TGDC) and requested for KenGen’s training consultancy services.
The training schedule focused on procurement in geothermal projects, planning and packaging of tenders for geothermal projects, geothermal drilling operations, geothermal projects risk management, monitoring and evaluation/negotiation, operation & maintenance of geothermal power plants, environmental monitoring of geothermal projects among other subjects. The programme also included field work and site visits to Olkaria geothermal field, Eburru and power plants.
The Writer is a Senior Information Scientist at KenGen Geothermal Training Centre