The first-of-its-kind specialised product: the “enerMENA CSP Teaching Materials” for universities has been finalised after several month of fruitful cooperation between DLR and outstanding experts from academic institutions in Germany and several Middle East and North African (MENA) countries. This initiative was launched by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in the framework of the enerMENA Project to support the implementation of Desertec Concept that aims at the sustainable development of the energy supply in the EU-MENA region by the exploitation of the abandoned solar energy resources in the world’s Sun Belt. Making such university materials available should pave the way to fulfil the basic prerequisites for the success strived objective of this concept.
The “enerMENA Teaching Materials” cover the widest spectrum of the CSP related topics to address all CSP technologies in detail including energy storage and grid connections as well as to discuss the social and economic impacts. These materials could be integrated in existing renewable energies masters’ programmes for students with focus on CSP or could be used as an input to the syllabus of a specialised CSP masters’ study course. The modules of the enerMENA teaching materials could be applied entirely in one study course or a selection could be made for some modules to fit into an existing teaching course.
Concrete plans are set to implement these materials in several MENA universities. The University of Jordan, Cairo University, An-Najah National University and the Ecole Nationale d’Industrie Minerale (ENIM) will be the first academic institutions in the MENA region to implement the materials. Two enerMENA Implementation Workshops will be organised to present the teaching materials and discuss the perspectives for their implementation at Jordanian and Moroccan universities. The first workshop will be organised in Rabat on October 10th in cooperation with ENIM and German International Cooperation (GIZ), and the second in Amman on November 02nd and 3rd in cooperation with the University of Jordan.
We are grateful to our partners in the MENA region and Germany for their productive cooperation. Special thanks go to Aachen University of Applied Sciences and the University of Kassel for the intense efforts during the preparation phase. Finally, the enerMENA team opens the door to all interested universities to join our network.