Before you can size a solar system, you need to know the relationships between solar irradiation and electricity production with solar cells. Solar systems are electrical devices and require a lot of technical background knowledge. What previous education, level of education and what field of study is necessary to become a PV designer?

We cannot teach basic electrical engineering, mathematics or physics. Anyone who wants to take a course as a designer must have a good educational foundation. This is a prerequisite that unfortunately very few people in Africa have – especially in rural northern Ghana.

We have based our courses on the Swiss dual education system with theory and practice as integral learning units. Consequently, we have selected students with university degrees or have sent the participants additionally to a technical university to complete appropriate courses.

However, we quickly discovered that the learning culture in Africa is fundamentally different from ours, even though the English school system was implemented here – perhaps one should rather say „imposed“. Even university graduates could not do simple calculations because they never really understood it! We first had to deal intensively with contextualization, because the learning culture and the school system here simply do not fit together.

After some observations, we think we have found a solution: