By Kai Forster, 14 March

The Transforming Energy Access – Learning Partnership (TEA-LP) is excited to announce the development of a new Continuing Professional Development (CPD) course titled Integrated Data for Energy Analytics (IDEA). TEA-LP started off the year by welcoming five international content experts to our headquarters in Cape Town for a course design workshop, where we had an intensive week to work on the new course and kickstart its development.

TEA-LP was delighted to welcome back content experts Dr Karim Choukri and Dr Fenwicks Musonye, who were also content experts in our first CPD course titled Integrated Energy Systems. TEA-LP was also pleased to welcome two familiar faces – Dr Addo Kwabena and Dr Francis Xavier Ochieng, who both joined TEA-LP at the course uptake workshop in Nairobi last year June. Collaborating on this course together was a great opportunity for us to capitalise on the expertise that exists within the TEA-LP network, and to strengthen the existing working relationships with our partners.

IDEA is aimed at giving employees the necessary skills, knowledge, and competencies to be able to integrate data analytics with energy systems. The course consists of 8 modules, with content experts designing one or two of the modules each. The module topics include:

1. Introduction to Energy Demand Analysis – Dr Karim Choukri (Morocco)
2. Data Collection and Pre-processing – Dr Karim Choukri (Morocco)
3. Energy Consumption Behaviour Analysis – Dr Fenwicks Musonye (Kenya)
4. Forecasting Techniques – Dr Addo Kwabena (Ghana)
5. Data Analytics for Operational Performance Evaluation – Dr Francis Xavier Ochieng (Kenya)
6. Data-Driven Decision Making – Dr Francis Xavier Ochieng (Kenya)
7. Future Trends and Advanced Topics – Mr Adekoyejo Kuye (Nigeria)
8. Ethics and Privacy Considerations – Ms Gabriele James (South Africa)

The course development was led by Mascha Moorlach, and the course was designed by Kai Forster.

The IDEA CPD course is to be accredited by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and will grant successful graduates CPD credits that will promote their career development. The course will run over 8 weeks, with each module lasting a week and requiring roughly 10 hours, totalling 80 hours by the end of the course.

The course will be delivered in a remote, asynchronous learning environment with weekly assignments or quizzes being due to track the participants’ progress and to ensure that they have a firm understanding of the content. This flexible course structure allows participants to engage with the content when they have the time available, and when they are feeling most productive and focused.

Keep an eye open for developments in the coming months. The first cohort is set to kick off in July 2024, and promises to equip successful graduates with the skills, knowledge, and competencies to merge data analytics with energy systems, positioning them to positively contribute towards building resilient, efficient, and data-centric energy landscapes.