74% of veterans believe that their need for retraining is not met. That is why the “Solar ReStart” course was aimed specifically at veterans. The first graduates have already been employed.
Solar energy is becoming increasingly popular in Ukraine, as it is a guarantee of energy independence. Regular shelling of Ukrainian energy infrastructure led to power outages, which generated a large demand for the installation of solar power plants (solar power plants), and accordingly, the need for qualified personnel has increased. These personnel can be demobilized military personnel.
Surveys conducted by the Ukrainian Veterans Fund confirm this. Military personnel say that they will face the issue of retraining (74%) and unemployment (over 80%) after returning from the Russian-Ukrainian war.
The “Solar ReStart” course responds to these needs. The RePower Ukraine charity foundation took care of lecturers, a psychologist and HR to not only teach but also support the participants. Moreover, from the very beginning, the foundation had agreements with large companies in the Ukrainian solar energy sector about jobs for graduates.
The course is completely free. The classes were held in 2 areas: solar power plant design, solar power plant installation. The former were trained completely online on the WeStudy platform, and in addition to online lectures, they went to practical classes at the Renewable Energy Training and Practice Center and on 2 excursions to solar power plants. The participants were covered for travel, accommodation and meals.
Since the solar energy sector is rapidly developing, the teachers for the course were selected with relevant practical experience to teach new specialists the most modern skills. For example, participants worked with PVsyst: PVsyst is a tool for designing solar power plants that takes into account climatic conditions, topography, and panel specifications, and generates detailed reports and efficiency graphs.
The training lasted 2 months. After successfully passing the final exams, 47 new specialists received certificates, capable of working with both large industrial facilities and smaller stations for domestic use. 11 graduates have already been employed in the new specialty.
The selection of personnel and the course program is not random, it is based on a study of the needs and fears of the target audience — veterans.
The military personnel interviewed for the study say that they need support in finding employment: adaptation training (35.8%), career counseling (32.5%); mentoring (17.5%); coaching consultations (14.1%); resume writing/interview preparation (13.7%)
The RePower Charity Foundation also took care of this during the training. The course instructors, in addition to being open to communicating with the participants, and HR, who was a member of the course implementation team, held 2 practical career counseling webinars, where he explained how to prepare for interviews, write resumes and motivation letters.
Since the course was exclusively for military personnel, they felt like they were in an environment that understood them. They could share their thoughts and experiences with people who were in the same context as them.
The course was mentioned both in the media and on government portals, a total of 130+ platforms. In particular, information about him was spread by:
- Suspilne
- #ShoTam
- Rubryka
- Nakypilo Radio
- Veteran Media
- VeteranHUB
- Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine
- Ministry of Health, etc.
However, the most important thing is that 47 veterans successfully completed the course, who can now work in a new specialty. Moreover, 11 of them are employed.
Such as veteran Oleksandr. He has diplomas in the specialties of “Surveyor” and “Accounting and Audit”, in addition, during his military service, he was engaged in configuring communications, networks, equipment and solar panels. After completing the “Solar ReStart” course, he got a job as a fitter in one of the Ukrainian companies.
“I knew that my knowledge and experience would be very useful during my studies. At the same time, I understood that the course would give me the opportunity to deepen my skills and open up new opportunities in planning and installing solar power plants,” explains Oleksandr.
We thank our partners for their help in implementing the “Solar ReStart” course
MUK Group of Companies for providing license access to AutoCAD (Autodesk) — one of the leading tools for creating technical projects and drawings.
PVsyst for providing access keys to the extended version of the program for modeling and analyzing solar power plants.
WeStudy for the convenient online learning format: access to training materials, lecture recordings, and completing tasks in a modern format.
Softprom for providing free licenses for SketchUp and ZWCAD software solutions.
Renewable Energy Training and Practical Center for the provided technical base and infrastructure for practical
