The Southern African Solar Thermal Training & Demonstration Initiative (SOLTRAIN) is a regional initiative on capacity building & demonstration of solar thermal systems in the SADC region. SOLTRAIN is funded by Austrian Development Agency and co-financed by the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID). The focus of SOLTRAIN is to contribute to reducing energy poverty by improving access to sustainable energies, specifically solar thermal solutions and is designed to support and contribute to the implementation of the different energy policies of the target countries that enhance the use of solar thermal systems. SOLTRAIN is implemented in the following SADC Member States are Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. SOLTRAIN focuses on the four crucial areas:
- Raising awareness of the potentials in solar thermal technology;
- Building of competence in solar thermal technology;
- Creating solar thermal technology platforms; and
- Demonstrating that solar thermal technology works.
The implementing agency of SOLTRAIN is AEE – Institute for Sustainable Technologies, an Austrian institute active in solar thermal energy research, training and demonstration. The local partners are Botswana University in Botswana; Bethel Business and Community Development Centre from Lesotho; Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique; Namibia Energy Institute from Namibia; Sustainable Energy Society of Southern Africa and the Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies from Stellenbosch University in South Africa; and the company Domestic Solar Heating in Zimbabwe.
Do you want to know more about SOLTRAIN, follow; https://soltrain.org/