eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda. Picture Leon Lestrade/Independent Newspapers
The eThekwini Municipality aims to train 6 000 young people in job opportunities available in the renewable energy sector.
Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda announced a partnership with the KwaZulu-Natal Education Development Trust and others to develop these skills and explore the opportunities available in this sector.
It was not immediately clear in the statement when the training could start.
Addressing the media recently on a number of developments in the city, Kaunda said young people can and will benefit in the renewable energy sector.
“Council also approved authority for the City manager Musa Mbhele to enter into a transformative memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the KwaZulu-Natal Education Development Trust in collaboration with the Renewable Energy Institute for Southern Africa.
“This partnership is set to pave the way for capacity building and energy skills development for the implementation of the Municipal Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (MIPPPP),” he said.
The mayor said the initiative aims to train 6 000 youth in the eThekwini Municipality with renewable energy skills essential for a low-carbon economy. The participants of the programme will qualify as solar PV technicians.
“You will recall that early this year, we hosted the Energy Transformation Summit where we indicated that in the short term, we are procuring new generation capacity of 400 megawatts from independent power producers. One hundred megawatts have been allocated to solar PV and 300MW for gas to power (GTP). Therefore, these solar PV technicians will play a key role in the implementation of this project,” said Kaunda.
The Mercury
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