Ninh Thuan, 21 November 2018 – The Central and Southern Provinces of Vietnam, especially the provinces in the South-Central Coast region including Ninh Thuan, have high potential for wind and solar energy. This leads to an increasing need of a skilled workforce in the field. To discuss strategic solutions to address this emerging requirement, on 21 November 2018, approximately 40 delegates from state management agencies, Ninh Thuan College, the business sector and international experts participated in the workshop “Partnership to establish a “Training Centre for Renewable Energies” at the Ninh Thuan Vocational College. The workshop was co-organised by the Directorate of Vocational Education and Training, Ninh Thuan Vocational College and the Programme “Reform of TVET in Viet Nam”.

The resolution 115/NQ-CP/2018 of the Government on mechanisms and policies to support the socio-economic development of Ninh Thuan has defined Ninh Thuan to be the centre for renewable energy of the country. It is expected that four wind power plants are in operation in Ninh Thuan by the end of 2018 and 11 new solar power plants are in operation by July 2019. The recent increase of wind power and solar power plants in operation and to be in operation urgently requires a technical workforce on installation, maintenance and operation of these plants.

Participating in the workshop, representatives from the State management agencies, TVET practitioners and companies working in renewable energy including Siemens,  Schneider Electric, Enercon,Thuan Binh Wind Power, IBS and Festo Didactic discussed practical requirements, as well as contributed solutions and cooperation possibilities to tackle the requirement on technical workforce in the field. Especially, representatives from Ninh Thuan Vocational College, enterprises and the Programme Reform of TVET in Vietnam signed an Expression of Interest (EoI) to form a Development Partnership to support the establishment of a “Training Centre for Renewable Energies” at Ninh Thuan Vocational College. The goal of the Partnership is that Ninh Thuan Vocational College is able to work in cooperation with the industry to provide  initial and further training for students and personnel from industry; to develop training programmes and teaching material; to qualify teaching staff and in-company trainers and to offer long- and short-term training courses for wind and solar power technical occupations with specific focus on installation, operation and maintenance, meeting the requirements of the industry and referring to international standards.

“This is the first milestone to jointly develop a concept for cooperation with clearly defined objectives, roles, responsibilities and contributions of each party to the training centre. This facilitates a smooth collaboration among the local authority, the vocational college and the business sector to timely response to the urgent need of a high-quality workforce for renewable energy in Ninh Thuan in particular and the region in general”, said Dr. Juergen Hartwig, Director of the Programme Reform of TVET in Viet Nam

This activity took place within the framework of the Vietnamese-German Programme “Reform of TVET in Viet Nam”. The programme is financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in cooperation with the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA).