By Daniele Pagani. På Dansk (oversættelse: Trine Sund Kammersgaard)
At the same time of the meeting in the Netherlands, Folkecenter took part also to another project meeting. This time, in Greenland! The visit took place between the 16th and the 24th of March.
The project, “Operating techniques in Renewable Energy under Arctic conditions”, is running already since 2021 and it aims at developing innovative teaching material that supports and spreads competences related to the use of renewable energy in the Arctic.
Representing us was Tonny Brink, our CTO, who had the opportunity to visit Greenland for the second time. At first, Tonny was joined by our partner from the Svalbard Folkehøyskole, with whom he explored the surroundings of Sisimiut; on Monday, the rest of the partnership joined them and the meeting could officially start.
The purpose of the gathering was to finalize the educational plan and to test the developed modules: to facilitate that, 14 out of the 36 selected “test-students” attended the classes and provided feedback on the activities. It was very satisfying to see the positive responses and we are very happy of the important inputs received.
Now, what’s left is to finalize the material, after which the Government will need to decide whether this program should become part of the educational activities; we hope the decision will come fast, in which case it will be possible to start training people already in 2024.
“When you travel in the snowmobile toward inland”, says Tonny, “you really understand how big this Country is; in Sisimiut you still see some people, but when you move away from the fjord you quickly understand how remote this place is. This, of course, poses some challenges when planning the infrastructure, but I believe that renewables have still a large potential. Batteries will play a key role up here, first by removing the idling times of the generators and then by balancing the fluctuations of renewables. I think hybrid system will play a large role in Greenland”.
The following mobility in the project will take place in autumn, in Folkecenter. We are looking forward to welcoming the partners to our facilities and to show them the renewable energy solutions in use here.
