European Solar Academy

ongoing

The European Solar Academy is a comprehensive Training Services Platform for reskilling and upskilling workforce for the entire European solar photovoltaic (PV) value chain. It responds to the need for providing the EU solar PV industry with a skilled labor force in sufficient numbers. The Project will reinforce the upskilling and reskilling of the workforce in the development, component production, installation, operations and maintenance, re-use and recycling of solar PV technologies as carried out by education and training providers in EU Member States and will have a strong focus on employees in EU SMEs. The project shall aim at upskilling and reskilling 100.000 direct learners across the EU solar photovoltaic and related industry across the EU within three years of launching as set out in the initial grant agreement. To that end, the Project will develop a minimum of 40 learning courses within its three years. All courses will build and issue credentials. All courses will be certified to issue credentials and will be translated into several European languages. A network of 110 trainers and certified 100 education and training providers will be set up and activated for the wide dissemination of the content within the first three years. EIT InnoEnergy proposes a comprehensive set of seven work packages, with a total of over 43 deliverables within a project duration of 36 months to address the scope of the action. By bolstering the EU PV industry workforce, the Project makes an important contribution towards reaching the REPowerEU deployment target of almost 600 GW by 2030 as well as the European Solar PV Industry Alliance (ESIA) vision to re-shore manufacturing capacities capable of producing components required for the deployment of 30 GW of solar PV annually. It is fully aligned with the European Commission’s proposal for a Net Zero Industry Act. Thus, ultimately, the Project contributes to decreasing EU greenhouse gas emissions, boosting the creation of domestic value added, driving employment, and an increased supply chain resilience of a key net-zero technology. EIT InnoEnergy is uniquely positioned to address the needs of the action. Having successfully launched the European Battery Alliance Academy, it has demonstrated experience in creating and rolling out learning content and training service platforms that enable Member States and other stakeholders to use REACT EU and ESF+ funds to address the skill gap in net-zero technology value chains. The expected impact and results are in line with the EIT’s Impact Framework for 2021-2027 and KPIs in that the Project contributes to “creating more and better jobs” through increasing the “number of participants in non-labelled education and training” as well as in that it contributes to “generating innovation-based growth” through increasing the “number of KIC partners or employers in the KIC sector reporting reduction in skills gaps through the employment of EIT beneficiaries incl. graduates and/or reduced skill shortages in the labor market.”