Collaboration between Industry and Universities in Geothermal Energy Training in Africa - a case for Dedan Kimathi University of Technology

Abstract

ABSTRACT In an increasingly competitive global operating environment we must educate and train the very best people, then make sure that they are employed effectively in the interests of industry and of society as a whole. Kenyan geothermal industry, and in particular the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) and the Geothermal Development Company (GDC), is slowly responding - and sometimes painfully to the pressures of global competition. Local universities, hitherto, have seemed less able and willing to change to meet their own challenges by collaborating with their partners in industry in science and engineering education and training for increased profitability and improved service delivery. Under the Renewable Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) initiative (established after the Johannesburg Summit in 2002), one of the main activities for the United Nations University Geothermal Training Program (UNU-GTP), has been to conduct short (3-4 weeks) courses in selected countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa on Exploration for Geothermal Resources. Kenya’s geothermal industry has been collaborating with UNU-GTP in facilitating these short geothermal training programs since 2005. The over 400 participants trained so far have come from Kenya and other African countries with geothermal resources, which include Algeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Comoros, Djibouti, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, The Sudan, Yemen and Zambia. Dadan Kimathi University of Technology (DeKUT) has also recently launched a 2-year MSc Geothermal training program; an effort that is envisaged to address, not only geothermal energy technology transfer, but research on really problems encountered by industry during their operation activities. In this paper we review the successes and challenges that have been encountered in establishing and carrying out these training efforts.