TRAINING OPPORTUNITY

Emera Caribbean Renewables Ltd. (ECRL) is making sure that students of the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology (SJPI) will benefit from crucial on-the-job training in the vital renewable energy industry.

During a launch event yesterday, which was held at the soon-to-be commissioned 1 MW rooftop solar site owned by CloudSolar Inc., located at Guinea Plantation, St. John, the SJPI and ECRL shared details of their recently signed three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

The agreement, a first for local solar installer ECRL, will ensure students benefit from hands-on experience via industrial attachments in the areas of photovoltaic and battery installations. It also provides opportunities for job placement for some SJPI graduates, the development of training courses, and the awarding of ECRL-sponsored student scholarships.

Neilsen Beneby, Renewable Energy Manager, Emera Caribbean, explained: “We are planning to expose the SJPI students to on-the-job training, in addition to presentations on photovoltaic best practice, industry technological trends and site safety.”

He added, “Our team is also looking forward to providing SJPI with technical guidance and installation services for the build-out of photovoltaic systems across their campus.”

“The SJPI is honoured to establish this partnership with Emera Caribbean, a leading energy provider in the region, for on-the-job training opportunities for our students in the area of renewable energy,” said Ian Drakes, Principal of the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology.

Drakes continued, “We are confident that the training provided will ensure our students can enter work with skills and make a meaningful contribution from day one. We are looking forward to a long and fruitful relationship.”

The principal also dismissed any notions that people over a certain age applying to the SJPI were overlooked and said that there were daytime and evening courses for all ages. Drakes highlighted that it was also a focus of the institution to create gender-balanced education, where males and females had equal opportunity to explore studies.

After the remarks, students from the SJPI along with their Photovoltaic Installation Instructor, Andre Jarvis, were taken on a guided tour of the site by Kamal Seale, Systems Engineer at ECRL. Seale explained that the rooftop solar site at Guinea Plantation was one of the largest, if not the largest, on the island and generated power equivalent to that which would provide for 700 homes over a one-year period. (AS)