International School on Solar Energy 2015

The International School on Solar Energy (ISSE) is an initiative promoted by the Universidade de Brasilia and GIZ that involves Brazilian universities, power companies and other industrial enterprises, government and international embassy services. ISSE 2015 as an initial series of lectures and hands-on workshops was held in Brasilia from 23 to 26 February 2015. Jointly organized and hosted by GFA Consulting Group, GIZ and the Universidade de Brasilia, the event served as a platform to discuss opportunities and challenges of solar power in Brazil and to explore different concentrating solar power (CSP) and photovoltaic (PV) technologies. More than 250 engineering students, solar technicians, and representatives from academia, government and the private sector participated in the event.

In their opening speeches, high-level Brazilian and German government representatives agreed that there is an increasing need for Brazil to diversify its energy matrix and make more use of its high potential for solar energy. The participants also benefited from the knowledge and experience of Brazilian and international speakers from Germany, the Masdar Institute in Abu Dhabi and the University of California San Diego in the United States of America.

  

ISSE 2015 took place in the framework of the bilateral technical cooperation project Concentrating Solar Power in Brazil (DKTI-CSP), implemented by GIZ on behalf of BMZ as part of the German Climate Technology Initiative (DKTI). GFA is implementing the project’s education and training component. The objective of this component is to enhance education and training related to CSP as to meet future demand for proficient academic and technical professionals in this field. ISSE 2015 has proven to be one important step towards this goal. Given the success of this year’s event, GFA is looking forward to the next ISSE in 2016.