Review of the year 2020
The year 2020 indeed proved to be a different year. There was absolutely no way of knowing at the end of 2019 what the onrushing train of 2020 would bring. This time last year, concepts such as “lockdowns,” “mask” and “social distancing” were unknown to most of us. Today they are part of our everyday language as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact all aspects of our lives.
2020 Course statistics
With all that was happening in 2020, we at GREEN still managed to train over 500 participants and conducted 3 Solar Power designer for Commercial Systems courses with 2 being in Johannesburg and 1 in Cape Town. For the SAPVIA PV GreenCard Assessment, we had over 115 participants. It was not a completely bad year.

2020 Timeline
January
GREEN West Africa Workshop with KYA Energy Systems
Dr. Yao Azoumah visited our office in Germany, and we had a workshop together where we planned our collaboration in West Africa. We decided that we want to focus on Ghana and Togo to start with solar training courses in the region.
February
Official Launch of GSA in Ghana
GREEN Solar Academy celebrated on 25 February the official launch of the GREEN Solar Academy Ghana. Dr Yao Azoumah and Antje Klauss-Vorreiter presented our training programme and discussed with the industry the concrete training demand and the opportunities for PV in Ghana.
March
First professional course in Angola.
The first course on Solar off-grid systems already took place in 2019 and it was a great success. The first professional course was in March First course already in 2019, a great response so 1st professional course on solar off-grid systems in March.
Solar Show and Training of Trainers: The 2020 Solar Show was virtual and although it was different from the other years, we did get some clients and formed some great partnerships with RenewSys. Our Training of trainers did not happen, we had to change plans, and have it conducted online, we did have some hiccups here and there but in the end, it all worked out.
April-June
THE LOCKDOWN period, it was not easy to not have trainings running but we kept ourselves busy with finishing off our project in Ethiopia and developing new course materials, and preparing to run trainings again.
June-July
Press restart
We pressed restart on our trainings after the lockdown. First training after the break was in Johannesburg and it was a success. So grateful for our loyal customers! In July First training in Cape Town and adapting to our new lifestyle of, masks, social distancing, and hand sanitizing. During training, all guides and regulations from the government were adhered to.
September- October
New Synergies
We started new cooperation in Zimbabwe with Samansco, we organized a kick-off course for Samansco as a kick start for our collaboration. New courses will be offered in Harare this year going further. October we had the first SuperSolarSchool course in Ghana! After moving it around a couple of times, the SuperSolarSchool course finally took place on 19-23 October 2020. The course was a great success all thanks to our trainers Dennis Asare Wiredu and Delali Pearce-Kporha who did a great job.
November
SuperSolarSchool in Namibia
Covid-19 pandemic, travel restrictions, and robberies gave us a hard time getting the course up and running, but we finally made it to offer a course again on 16-20 November 2020. The first SuperSolarSchool course team Namibia did all alone with trainers only from Namibia. Trainers from South Africa could not travel to Namibia but because all our trainers are highly skilled they managed very well and the course was a great success.
December
With the high demand for solar energy, the skill of solar installation is also rising. Hence we had to squeeze in the last courses, and busy making plans for 2021, and feeling grateful to work together with the best people we could imagine. Who would have expected this year to become such a fab one? So last courses were squeezed in before holidays. We had an online Christmas party, different but a lot of fun. It had it’s advantages, for the first time, all academies could have a Christmas party together, not only our South African academy branches but also the international branches could celebrate together, -even our branch in West-West-Africa (Colombia)!
The year 2020 was indeed a different year and the COVID-19 outbreak is one event that has made 2020 a year like no other. We had to adjust to a new normal of having to conduct some events online and having to face the reality of wearing masks and social distancing and washing of hands every 5 minutes. But nonetheless, this year was a great year, and we look forward to this year and all the things it will bring.
N.B: Remember Covid-19 is not over so don’t forget to mask up and keep your distance and if you are not feeling well stay home.
And what about you? Could we raise some interest? Join us in this year’s training!
Your next chance to learn about Solar Installation:
SuperSolarSchool
08-12 February 2021, Johannesburg
Trainer: Marius Geldenhuys and Peter Pretorius
R12,500.00 excl. VAT, 10% discount for GREEN and maxx alumni and SAPVIA members
Save research time and sign up for a training!
If you are starting your own business, searching for a job in the PV industry or just checking your options, gaining some knowledge is always the first step.
