Renewable energy workshop focuses on battery technology |01 March 2016

A three-day workshop on renewable energy technology focusing on battery types started yesterday at the University of Seychelles’ (UniSey) campus at Anse Royale.

It forms part of the Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation course within the Environment Science programme designed and delivered by the UniSey.

Organised by UniSey in collaboration with representatives from the University of Freiburg, Germany, the workshop is targeting professionals from various public and private organisations like the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, the Seychelles Energy Commission, some non-governmental organisations and representatives from some solar panel companies.

Delegates will learn the basics of electromechanical reactions like how do batteries, as the easiest kind of energy storage, work; the difference between the several battery types including the lithium-ion battery which is commonly used in electronic gadgets mobile phones and notebooks.

All these subjects are going to be explained with simple experiments that can be used in education.

Giving more details on the workshop, Dr Ashton Berry, head of research at the Blue Economy Research Institute of UniSey, said it is about renewable energy technology where they are looking at different types of battery technologies. UniSey has sought the collaboration of the University of Freiburg, one of the leading universities in the world.

The workshop is open to different industry groups in Seychelles as well as students from the environmental science degree course at the UniSey.

“The idea is we start with a bit of introductory knowledge about the different technologies to the community here,” said Mr Berry.

The University of Freiburg is providing three of its professors who do research in renewable technology, a field in which the university is reputed.