A 2-week short course in Energy Policy and Planning has been concluded at The Energy Center, KNUST for selected staff of National Energy Institutions, Higher Educational Institutions and the private sector. 

The training programme was sponsored by the World Bank under the Solar Capacity Upgrading Project (SolarCUP) being implemented by TEC and its sister institution in Burkina Faso – the International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering (2iE). 

The next session of the course will be run from 13 to 24 August 2012. 

The course was led by two leading West African experts in Energy Policy and Planning – Prof Abeeku Brew-Hammond, Director of TEC, who also chairs the board of the Energy Commission of Ghana, and Prof Yezouma Coulibaly of 2iE in Burkina Faso. Other invited experts were Dr Joseph Essandoh of the Strategic Policy and Planning Unit of the Energy Commission of Ghana and Mr Michael Opam of the Ministry of Energy Ghana.

The two-week programme included topics such as: Global Energy Trends and 21st Century Issues, Integrated Energy Planning, Capacity Development for Energy Sector and RETs, Energy Economics, Pricing and Regulatory/ Institutional Frameworks, etc. 

The course was packaged from the e-Learning MSc. programme in Renewable Energy Technologies which is being jointly run by TEC and the Department of Mechanical Engineering of KNUST. The short course is intended to provide continuing learning avenues for national energy institutions.

Course participants came from a number of institutions including:

• Ministry of Energy

• Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC)

• Koforidua Polytechnic, 

• Mechanical Engineering Department of KNUST, 

• KNUST School of Graduate Studies, and 

• Private organizations and individuals 

At an evening reception to conclude the training, participants expressed their appreciation to the Center for organizing the training, and recommended a wider publicity for subsequent sessions so that a lot more people may benefit. 

Following the positive response received from participants, the Center has decided to run another training session on Energy Policy and Planning from 13 to 24 August 2012. To make a booking send an e-mail to: daquansah.coe@knust.edu.gh   

For more information on the course outline click here.