Second Meeting of the ECSES Technical Committee

Background

In fulfilment of the ECOWAS Renewable Energy Policy (EREP) and National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs) of Member States, the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) with the support of the European Union, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the World Bank and other partners, has established a Regional Certification Scheme (RCS) to promote professional competency and to address the quality assurance gaps that exist along the renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) value-chain. The rationale behind this initiative is that stakeholders including potential investors and developers are seeking skilled human resources throughout the development of their projects to ensure high performance of their systems. Having certified and skilled technicians serves as quality assurance and ensures less technical failure of installed technologies. As such for a successful growth and development of a viable regional RE and EE market, there is a need for quality assurance at various levels. This includes quality assurance of equipment e.g. through the establishment and enforcement of product standards. However, high-quality products will only provide the desired services if RE and EE systems are designed, installed and maintained by highly qualified individuals. Therefore, certification gives the reassurance that professionals have the competencies and capacities required to complete a job safely and effectively. Certification is a way to support the development of the regional sustainable energy market, promote the quality of systems and projects. Also, certification ensures the availability of highly-qualified local technicians and reinforces the credibility of off-grid solar standalone PV technologies.

The scheme is based on the Job-Task-Analysis (JTA), which was developed by stakeholders of all ECOWAS member states and with inputs from industry experts. ECREEE has aligned all the structures and procedures of the certification system to the requirements of ISO/IEC 17024:2012 “conformity assessment-general requirements for bodies performing certification of persons". This provides the possibility for professionals to obtain credentials that are recognized by their country and internationally. ECREEE has also formed a Technical Committee (TC) with representatives from each of the ECOWAS countries that serves as an advisory group and organised the first TC meeting in July, 2018 to validate the working documents of the scheme. The regional certification scheme was piloted in Senegal and Ghana in January and July 2019 respectively. Now, the ECSES programme has reached a stage where the compiled lessons-learned in the pilot examinations will be presented to the stakeholders including the TC for discussion. Also, in this workshop, additional framework documents of the scheme will be presented to the TC and stakeholders for validation before the scheme is rolled-out to the remaining ECOWAS countries. Last but not the least, successful candidates will also be awarded the professional certification during the workshop.

Objective of the workshop

The objectives of the second TC meeting of the ECSES scheme are to:

1. present the compiled lessons-learned during the pilot examinations to stakeholders;
2. inform the TC about the progress made towards of the scheme
3. award the 17 successful candidates out of 32 the off-grid solar PV certification and
4. validate the following documents:
   • Updated Guidelines covering off-grid, grid-connected and mini-grid solar photovoltaic technicians and solar photovoltaic systems inspector
   • Regional Certification Body’s structure, operation and sustainability strategies  

Expected results

The expected results of the workshop are:

1. The lessons-learned are presented and participants made recommendations done
2. Additional JTA and framework documents of RCS are presented and validated.
3. Establishment of sub-committees are created and comprising a minimum of three members to undertake complaint reviews and investigations.

Participants

The workshop will bring together the members of the examination and training institutions, ECSES TC, national stakeholders, consultants, sponsors as well as representatives including IRENA and GIZ.