MREAP trains CK energy committees in solar installation
Malawi Renewable Energy Acceleration Programme (MREAP), in order to ensure sustainability of reliable electricity in rural areas, is training energy committee members in Chikhwawa in Stand Alone Solar Photovoltaic (PV) power system installation and maintenance.
Speaking at the opening of the two-day training workshop on Thursday in Chikwawa, MREAP coordinator Kelvin Tembo said the aim of the training is to develop participants’ knowledge and skills in the installation and maintenance of stand-alone PV systems for rural communities.
“We believe that when a system is donor funded, people do not have the spirit to take care of it properly and it dies within two to three years of its inception, as such, we want the energy committees in the various communities where the solar PV systems panels were installed to have technical knowledge of how to install, manage and repair the systems.
“Apart from making the programme sustainable once it winds up, we also want to make the communities interested in using solar electricity since it is renewable,” said Tembo.
In an interview with one of the participants, Conex Malonda, a Health Surveillance Assistant at Kavalo Health Post, one of the places where MREAP installed solar panels in order to enable people access medical services at night, he said the training will enable them know a lot of things concerning the management of solar panels .
“The workshop is an eye opener to us people of the community; we will be able to maintain the solar panels on our own without wasting money to take it to repairers. We will try as much as possible to use what we will learn here whenever we come across a problem instead of rushing to other people,” said Malonda.
Dickson Mtungama, Gumbwa Primary School energy committee member, commended MREAP for the solar panels it installed at the school in November 2013 saying students are able to go for studies in the evening at the school and hopefully, the pass rate for this year will be impressive.
