The Transforming Energy Access – Learning Partnership (TEA-LP) is excited to announce the kickoff of the inaugural cohort of of a new Continuing Professional Development (CPD) course titled Integrated Data for Energy Analytics (IDEA). We are excited to welcome the first cohort of more than 30 participants, which kicked off on Monday 28 October.

The IDEA CPD course was designed following market research that helped to identify knowledge gaps and areas that the general industry perceived to be of great significance in the present day. Given the technological developments around the world in the past few years, it was decided that a course would be developed to bridge the gap between the fields of (renewable) energy systems and data analytics, while including information on some of the most exciting developments in big data, smart grids, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and innovations for the future. Since many of these technological advancements have occurred in the previous 5 years, it was found that many professionals working in the industry were unsure on how to integrate these principles and concepts in their work, indicating a clear need for a course that could bridge the gap and introduce big data and data analytics principles specifically into the context of the energy sector.

The course promises to give participants the necessary skills, knowledge, and competencies to effectively integrate data analytics practices with technical information gathered in energy systems. The course was designed with the modern, full-time employee working in the energy or off-grid energy sectors in mind. Generally speaking, the course targets individuals with a technically-oriented degree (e.g. engineering, physics, statistics, mathematics, data science, etc.) who are either already working in the energy sector and would like to learn how to effectively integrated data analytics into their work, or those who are wishing to transition into working in the energy sector. Alternatively, if interested candidates do not have a technically-oriented degree, we will consider individuals who have at least 5 years of experience working in the energy sector in a technically-oriented role. Some of the titles that the course would be well-suited to are people who are either already, or wanting to, work in the following roles: energy analyst, civil/ electrical/ mechanical/ mechatronics/ automation /data engineer, data scientist, technologist, or managers who wish to gain technical capabilities for overseeing a technical team.

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 Assessment and Forecasting– Dr Karim Choukri (Morocco)
2. Data Collection and Preprocessing for Demand Forecasting – Dr Karim Choukri (Morocco)
3. Energy Consumption Behaviour Analysis – Dr Fenwicks Musonye (Kenya)
4. Forecasting Techniques – Ing 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 – Ing Adekoyejo Kuye (Nigeria)
8. Ethics and Privacy Considerations – Ms Gabriele James (South Africa)

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

The IDEA CPD course is delivered in a remote, asynchronous learning environment with weekly assignments/quizzes to track participants’ progress and to ensure that they have a satisfactory understanding of the content. This efficient teaching model allows for maximum flexibility for participants, so that they can engage with the course when they have available capacity and it best fits into their schedule, and when they are feeling most productive and focused. The course is accredited by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and will grant successful graduates 8 CPD credits that can help 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.

All the best to the first cohort over the next few weeks! We look forward to engaging with them and hearing their feedback and inputs, as well as seeing them develop the necessary skills, knowledge, and competencies to uplift and enhance the energy sectors around the world. Through merging data analytics with energy systems, we are excited to see participants position themselves to positively contribute towards building a more resilient, efficient, and data-centric energy sector.

Next cohort: early 2025