This is being jointly organized by the ECOWAS Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) and the Institute of Sustainable Technologies in Austria (AEE-INTEC). It has brought together 30 participants drawn from the universities, institutions and private companies engaged in the production and promotion of the use of solar energy in the county.

The programme forms part of the four-year SOLTRAIN West African Project which aims at promoting the use of solar energy in the sub-region.The ultimate goal is to assist switch from fossil based fuel energy to solar energy.Professor Smile Dzisi, Vice Chancellor of the KTU, said the phase one of the project involved the production of a comprehensive market report on solar thermal water heating and drying of agricultural products by the technical university.

It was currently working on the phase two - monitoring of installed solar water heating system at selected sites and the building of capacity of professionals in  solar thermal system and applications.  

She indicated that the training workshop was meant to deepen the knowledge of the participants in solar thermal system and applications.Mr. Joarel Barros, an official of ECREEE, spoke of the need for countries in the sub-region to take advantage of the huge solar resource to solve their energy challenge. He noted that the use solar energy could tremendously help to reduce the pressure on the national grid of the ECOWAS member countries.