Learn about PV industry topics with Podcasts on Solar Energy
GREEN Podcasts
Find here our own off-grid podcast series, podcasts that feature GREEN as industry experts, as well as podcast versions of a selection of our Alumni Events.
GREEN webinars are where learning continues long after the classroom. Originally created for our Alumni, these sessions are now open to all solar professionals who want to stay sharp in a fast-changing industry. In each episode, we invite industry experts from finance to hardware, training to trends, to unpack the latest developments, challenges, and business opportunities in solar.
GREEN recorded a series of podcasts in the frame of our project for the German/Ethiopian NGO ADRA. GREEN CPO Vivian spoke to different industry experts to get in-depth info on off-grid PV topics. The podcasts are part of the eLearning course called PV Off-Grid Technician that GREEN & DGS Thuringia created on behalf of ADRA.
GREEN Solar Academy is often invited to share insights on solar skills development, youth training, and the just energy transition. From national radio to international podcasts, our team engages in powerful conversations that highlight the challenges – and solutions – facing the solar industry.
Off-Grid Podcasts
GREEN recorded a series of podcasts in the frame of our project for the German/Ethiopian NGO ADRA. GREEN CPO Vivian spoke to different industry experts to get in-depth info on off-grid PV topics. The podcasts are part of the eLearning course called PV Off-Grid Technician that GREEN & DGS Thuringia created on behalf of ADRA.
Understanding Renewable Energy
GREEN Solar Academy directors Antje Klauss-Vorreiter and Vivian Bluemel discuss the definition of renewable energy, its uses, possibilities and limitations.
Components of an Off-Grid PV System
Alessio Alario from Phocos (Germany) helps us to understand solar components, and their use and function in different PV systems. Special focus on solar charge controllers and inverters.
Sizing an Off-Grid PV System
Russom Semere from Phaseun (Germany) draws attention to the methods, challenges and common mistakes made in sizing of solar PV systems.
The Importance of Site Assessment
Dave Mathews from Sunergy (Zimbabwe) explains how to identify client needs, what information to document during a site visit and what to consider when planning an off-grid solar PV system.
Installation of Off-Grid PV Systems
Samson Tsegaye from Solar Energy Foundation (Ethiopia) talks us through the installation of an off-grid solar PV system from preparation of the site to commissioning of the plant, what to look out for and what to avoid.
Troubleshooting of Off-Grid PV Systems
Steve Harris from JVS Projects (Zimbabwe) discuss troubleshooting procedures, typical faults and recommended repairs for off-grid PV Systems.
Maintenance and Monitoring
Yonas Workie from Suntransfer Tech PLC (Ethiopia) goes into detail about online monitoring of systems, the physical maintenance challenges posed by remote systems and the involvement of an end user in the system maintenance.
GREEN Webinar Podcasts
GREEN webinars are where learning continues long after the classroom. Originally created for our Alumni, these sessions are now open to all solar professionals who want to stay sharp in a fast-changing industry. In each episode, we invite industry experts from finance to hardware, training to trends, to unpack the latest developments, challenges, and business opportunities in solar.
Solar & Storage Live 2025 – Alumni Webinar
Nigel Engelbrecht (Get Off Grid), Shawn Classen (K2 Systems) and Fredrik Hagelberg (IBC Solar South Africa) join us to unpack the key shifts reshaping the Southern African solar market and here’s what it boils down to: 2025 is shaping up to be the year where strategy – not hardware – defines success in solar, from BESS and AI to finance, O&M, and EV infrastructure.
What does it take to sustain a profitable solar business in SA in 2025? – Alumni Webinar
We pick the brains of two GREEN trainers who each run successful PV companies of their own, even though they’ve approached the industry from two very different angles. All the topics discussed are taken from our 2-day Solar Business Management course.
Intersolar 2023 – GREEN Team Wrap-Up
Intersolar 2023 in Munich, Germany was in a word “MASSIVE”. Fortunately, GREEN CPO Vivian Bluemel and GREEN Trainer Lyndsay Cotton have got plenty more to say about this crown jewel of the international solar industry. Listen as they share their thoughts on the event before a live #GREENalumni audience.
Solar Financing for SSEGs
GREEN CPO Vivian Bluemel and special guest Paige Bowen, Senior RE Analyst at Absa, shed light on basic financial terms and discuss how to navigate feasibility calculations and financing plans for SSEG PV systems.
Low voltage C&I – a lifeline for solar business
If the drastic reduction in loadshedding coupled with cash-strapped residential clients presents an existential threat to your PV business, you’ll want to tune into this session with iseli-energy‘s Lionel Kosny, and discover how low voltage commercial and industrial systems can you put you back into business in an instant.
Let’s talk about Solar & Storage 2024
The 2024 Solar & Storage Live & The Future Energy Show Africa was a serious industry meeting. Missed the show? Didn’t manage to visit all 5 halls? Join GREEN Solar Academy CEO Antje Klauss-Vorreiter and industry experts Daniel Haitzler from IBC Solar, Armand Diedericks from Victron Energy and De Wet Taljaard from SAPVIA, as they unpack the event.
“The South African solar PV market is still booming!”
Adriaan Rootman (MD of Schletter) and Jason Yazbek (Technical Support Engineer for Solis) unpack Intersolar Europe 2024 – the tech trends, the debut of many products geared at the C&I space, the gossip – and share how SA’s PV market is faring against other global markets.
Podcasts featuring GREEN
GREEN Solar Academy is often invited to share insights on solar skills development, youth training, and the just energy transition. From national radio to international podcasts, our team engages in powerful conversations that highlight the challenges – and solutions – facing the solar industry.
Solar Youth Academy on Radio Eersteriver
Host Uran Stigo Andrew chats with GREEN, Life Choices and two graduates of the programme. Together, they unpack why training isn’t enough without opportunity, and why the call for host companies is critical to turning potential into employment.
Skills development in the energy sector
GREEN COO Amanda Dzivhani joins fellow industry trailblazers Yershen Pillay from CHIETA, Bertha Dlamini from AWEaP and Wendy Poulton from Strategic Mindsets for a must-listen conversation on the critical role of upskilling and reskilling for South Africa’s energy transition.
A worldwide shortage of specialists and skilled workers
How do companies find new bright minds? What do you have to look out for if you want to train people abroad yourself? What makes the German dual system so special? And what exactly is a foreign skilled worker? This German podcast episode is dedicated to these questions and presents ways out of the misery. Vivian Blümel and Antje Klauß-Vorreiter were guests speakers.
All about GREEN Solar Academy
In this episode of “Grenzenlos” is all about the GREEN Solar Academy, which is active in the field of solar energy. It all started in Thuringia, but the company is now based in South Africa. One of the current projects is the “West Africa Solar Hub”, a loose association of German companies. And the driving force behind it was a business scout. Antje Klauß-Vorreiter was a guest in this episode.