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Twenty-four electrical engineers and technicians drawn from four West African countries have undergone training to build capacity in power distribution and maintenance.
The two-month training, under the auspices of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the Electricity Company of Ghana [ECG] Training Centre, was aimed at helping to build capacity to efficiently handle operation and maintenance of distribution networks and unstable power supply which is a common challenge within the West African sub region.
JICA Ghana considers the energy sector as one of the priority areas for cooperation and has implemented many activities not only in Ghana, but also across the West African sub-region.
It is supporting the regional training by working with government partners who benefited from the technical cooperation, while ECG Training Centre is on board in line with its vision of becoming the training hub of excellence in distribution system operation and maintenance in the West Africa region.
The participants, 12 engineers and 12 technicians were from Ghana, The Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
While the engineers were trained to improve their skills in power and distribution planning, design and system protection and control, the technicians-built capacity in maintenance of electrical equipment.
The training was borne out of an earlier project undertaken by JICA and the ECG Training Centre from 2013 to 2016 with the objective of strengthen the training capacity on distribution system operation and maintenance for ECG and neighbouring countries.
Under the project dubbed “Technical Cooperation Project on Electrical Engineers Training for African Countries” the centre, in close collaboration with Japanese experts, developed comprehensive and structured textbooks and other training materials in reference to the technical standard of ECG and training materials of Japanese electric power companies.
Also, equipment such as a substation for training purposes, measurement equipment, software and other materials were provided by the project thereby enhancing the capacity of the ECG Training Centre to deliver more hands-on training courses.
Following the project's completion, the ECG Training Centre sustained the project effects and continuously provides training for engineers and technicians of ECG using the training materials developed by the project.
