Work Package 1 aims to enhance university delivery of masters’ curricula for SDG7. We support 30 partner universities across Africa, South Asia and the Indo-Pacific to deliver Masters’ curricula focused on clean energy access. The support includes funding as well as technical and marketing support. Additional support includes facilitating linkages and sharing of expertise between our partners, and facilitating guest lectures and trainings by energy companies.

By 2022, seven of our partner universities had launched new Masters’ programmes focused on energy access. In 2023, TEA-LP signed awards with 23 new partner universities to include newly designed Masters’ level energy access courses in their existing Masters’ programmes. Each course (of approximately 160 student hours) includes a variety of aspects such as technology, policy, business models and socio-economic aspects of energy access. The courses use a case study approach, highlighting best examples of global/regional solutions as well as local solutions.

TEA-LP thus aims to ensure that masters’ students will gain the high-level knowledge, skills and competencies to contribute effectively to the sustainable delivery of clean energy access in their countries.

Mini-Grids Training Workshop in Kigali, September 2024

TEA-LP partners at the TEA Forum, Kigali, March 2024

Course uptake workshop, Nairobi, June 2023

This work package addresses the needs of companies and professionals in the sector to access training. The work package will support growth of the sector through the development and delivery of Continued Professional Development (CPD) courses.

The courses are meticulously designed in collaboration with industry-leading content experts from within the TEA-LP network. Each of the CPD courses is informed by market research that identifies growing needs and knowledge gaps that exist within the sector. The courses include focus on end-user relevance and applicability, and are designed with the modern employee in mind, accommodating those who work full-time, have family responsibility, and other time commitments. UCT will provide an academic ‘home’ and the required certification of the CPD courses, which are accredited by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA).

The CPD courses are offered online in a remote, asynchronous environment, which will make them accessible for candidates from all around Africa, South Asia and the Indo Pacific region. The courses that TEA-LP have delivered so far are:

  • Integrated Energy Systems, a CPD course focused on Energy Security, Whole Systems Thinking in the context of the energy sector, Sustainability, and Energy Efficiency to equip professionals with a holistic understanding of the intricate facets of modern-day energy systems.
  • Future Female Leaders in Energy, a 6 month course that was developed in collaboration with the Africa Management Institute. This course aims to equip junior women in the energy sector in Africa to take on positions of leadership and management, while gaining a high-level technical overview of energy and off-grid energy systems.
  • Integrated Data Energy Analytics, an 80-hour, ECSA-accredited CPD course that aims to bridge the gap between data science and energy systems, allowing a more efficiency and resilient sector to grow as data analytics, AI, machine learning, and smart grids are applied to energy systems to a greater extent.

We are currently running these three CPD courses:

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Future Female Leaders in Energy Course

Future Female Leaders in Energy is a remote, online CPD course that is aimed at junior women employees working in the energy and off-grid energy sectors in Africa. It was developed in collaboration with the African Management Institute (AMI), who developed 3 of the 6 modules, while UCT developed the remaining 3. The module topics are as follows:

  • Introduction to the energy and off-grid energy sectors [UCT]
  • Leadership (Personal, Team, and Organisational) [UCT]
  • Risk Management [UCT]
  • Project Management [AMI]
  • Communication [AMI]
  • Financial Management [AMI]

Each module runs over 1 month, adding up to 6 months of learning in total. The course was designed such that participants would gain a set of practical skills, applicable knowledge, and valuable information that they could apply at their own organisation, and prepare them to be promoted to positions of leadership and management. Assessments (consisting of quizzes and projects) are used to guide the participants along the way so that they can track their progress and ensure that they are achieving the learning outcomes for the course.

The first cohort (which started in July 2023) consisted of 30 women from 12 different countries around the African continent, and they are set to graduate in April 2024 . The second and third cohorts both kicked off in October 2023, and over the next few years, we expect a total of at least 300 women to graduate from Future Female Leaders in Energy, thereby helping us to live by one of our core values of improving gender equity within the energy and off-grid energy sectors. Provisional upcoming cohort dates are February 2024 (2 cohorts), April 2024 (2 cohorts), July 2024 (2 cohorts), and October 2024 (1 cohort).

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Integrated Energy Systems CPD Course

Integrated Energy Systems (IES) is another completely remote, self-paced, online CPD course aimed at intermediate-level employees working in the energy and off-grid energy sectors in Africa. The course was designed and developed by TEA-LP, with the support of four distinguished content experts from around the continent. Each content expert was responsible for developing one module of the course as follows:

  • Energy Security: Oghosa Erhahon (Nigeria)
  • Whole (Energy) Systems Thinking: Dr Karim Choukri (Morocco)
  • Sustainability: Dr Fenwicks Musonye (Kenya)
  • Energy Efficiency: Fana Fili Nurhussien (Ethiopia)

Each module runs over 2 weeks and consists of 20 hours, totalling 8 weeks (80 hours) of learning time. The course gives participants an in-depth understanding of energy systems, and how important aspects such as energy security, sustainability, and efficiency play a role in shaping modern energy systems.

The first cohort began in October 2023, and had 10 participants. The course is intended to be offered at least twice a year on a bi-annual basis until 2026. The next cohort is scheduled to start in February 2023, with additional 2024 cohorts starting in June and October.

The course is accredited by the UCT EBE CPD office and has been registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA). Upon completion, participants will gain 8 CPD points, which demonstrates that they have committed themselves to learning and developing themselves professionally. This can open the door to new opportunities, career development, and increased responsibilities.

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Integrated Data Energy Analytics CPD Course

Integrated Data Energy Analytics (IDEA) is the second online CPD course developed by TEA-LP that can be taken completely remotely. It is a self-paced learning journey, with modules developed in collaboration with industry-leading content experts from around the continent, offering valuable insights into some of the opportunities and challenges in the energy and off-grid energy sectors in Africa. Content experts were responsible for developing the following modules:

  • Introduction to Demand Assessment and Forecasting: Dr Karim Choukri (Morocco)
  • Data Collection and Preprocessing: Dr Karim Choukri (Morocco)
  • Energy Consumption Behaviour Analysis: Dr Fenwicks Musonye (Kenya)
  • Forecasting Techniques: Ing Addo Kwabena (Ghana)
  • Data Analytics for Operational Performance Evaluation: Dr Francis Xavier Ochieng (Kenya)
  • Data-Driven Decision Making: Dr Francis Xavier Ochieng (Kenya)
  • Future Trends and Advanced Topic: Ing Adekoyejo Kuye (Nigeria)
  • Ethical and Privacy Considerations: Ms Gabriele James (South Africa)

Each module runs over one week and consists of 10 hours, totalling 8 weeks (80 hours) of learning time. The course gives participants an in-depth understanding of the nexus between energy systems and data analytics and science, bridging the gap between the two fields.

The first cohort began in October 2024, with more than 25 participants registering for the inaugural cohort. The course is intended to be offered at least twice a year on a bi-annual basis until 2026. The next cohort is scheduled to start in February 2024, with additional 2025 cohorts starting in June and October.

The course is accredited by the UCT EBE CPD office and has been registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA). Upon completion, participants will gain 8 CPD points, which demonstrates that they have committed themselves to learning and developing themselves professionally. This can open the door to new opportunities, career development, and increased responsibilities.

TEA-LP is in the process of building a strong network of professionals between the energy and off-grid energy sectors, higher education institutes, and research centres to facilitate the sharing of resources, expertise, and knowledge to support and grow the network and contribute to furthering the ecosystem of Southern expertise, in particular:

  • Expanding the TEA-LP network of institutions
  • Forging and strengthening beneficial collaborations between universities, researchers, and industry partners at a global level in the energy access sector
  • Provide ongoing support to TEA-LP network partners
  • Implement a strong communications and dissemination strategy
  • Broaden the scope of partnership activities including developing research activities

TEA-LP partners at the International Conference on Sustainable Energy Education (SEED), July 2024

Two star Future Female Leaders in Energy graduates attending the “Women in Energy” event at Enlit Africa, 2024