GLASGOW Caledonian University (GCU) is to receive a share of almost one million euros to help Sri Lanka address workforce shortages in renewable energy skills.
Researchers at the university have been tasked with helping the South Asian country upskill so that it can deliver 80% of its energy from renewables. This will look to be achieved through building skills in the designing, commissioning and maintaining of renewable energy projects, with a specific focus on solar and wind.
GCU will work alongside a host of partners from a range of countries, with the university being allocated £124,000 for its part in the project. GCU said it will now establish five training hubs across Sri Lanka for technicians, engineers and project managers.
Professor Farrag, of GCU’s school of computing, engineering and built environment, said, “Sri Lanka has a vast resource of renewables that is not used due to the lack of a trained workforce. We have the expertise here at GCU to train others, so they can make their own countries better and healthy places within the world community. Projects such as this are what GCU’s research strategy is all about, tying in with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”
