Talent Training for Young Engineers in South Asia under “China-Pakistan Belt & Road Joint Lab on SHP Technology
Friday, July 15, 2022
As the all-weather strategic cooperative partner of China, Pakistan is a key country supporting China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is an important part of the Initiative, offering solutions to infrastructure construction, investment, energy and other issues for Pakistan. In order to realize the comprehensive completion of the Corridor, both Chinese and Pakistani governments have been making active efforts.
With the strong support of the two governments, National Research Institute for Rural Electrification (NRIRE), also called HRC, Ministry of Water Resources of People’s Republic of China, and Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy Technologies (PCRET), Ministry of Science and Technology of Islamic Republic of Pakistan have done a lot of exploration and research in the field of renewable energy development. At the beginning of 2021, based on the cooperation achievements between China and Pakistan, “China-Pakistan Joint Research on SHP Technology” was approved and undertaken by NRIRE/HRC, which aims to further expand the breadth and depth of mutual cooperation, promote the long-term construction of China-Pakistan Belt & Road Joint Lab on SHP Technology in PCRET, build a comprehensive technology cooperation platform for Small Hydropower (SHP) and other renewable energies between China and Pakistan, and continuously enhance its influence to the South Asian Region. The period of this Project is three years, and by means of technical exchanges, mutual visits, joint research, technical showcases and personnel training, SHP technical standard and basic database shall be formulated, and technical demonstrations on hybrid power-generation and cascade monitoring & control shall be established, thus realizing the overall target on setting up the Joint Laboratory.
At present, the Project is being implemented smoothly with the assistance of PCRET, The Department of Energy (DoE) of Punjab, Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) and other departments in Pakistan. According to the requirements of the project, the talent training for 10 young water conservancy engineers of South Asia has been successfully completed via academic education, forum exchanges, special lectures, etc., so as to establish an exchange mechanism for SHP technical and managerial staffs and to provide capacity building for sustainable development and utilization of SHP and other renewable energies to South Asian countries. The academic education lasts for four months, from late September 2021 to mid-January 2022, which is based on the joint talent training cooperation between NRIRE/HRC and Hohai University, the highest institution of hydraulic engineering and water resources in China. Considering the impact of the global COVID-19, 19 online professional courses were arranged for these 10 young participants to choose from Hohai’s English online teaching platform, including Safety Management of Water Conservancy Project, Finite Element Method, Numerical Simulation Methods and Applications for Engineering Turbulence, Wind Power and Tidal Power, Technology and Application of Modern Measurement, etc. In order to strengthen the training effect, during the training period, NRIRE/HRC also organized participants to attend several seminars on different topics such as Remote Centralized Control Operation Management Technology of Small Hydropower, Standard for Small Hydropower Technology, Technical Standards for Small Hydropower in South Asia, etc., invited domestic and foreign experts to lead these 10 participants to carry out project-related research, and shared them with special lectures on Technical Renovation for Small Hydropower Station, Centralized Monitoring of Small Hydropower, Compilation and Management of Small Hydropower Standards in China, International Standards for Small Hydropower: Present Situation and Prospect, etc.
The training has not only improved relevant technical capability and problem-solving ability of the 10 young experts, but also further promoted the exchanges and cooperation between China and South Asian countries in technical know-how, management and operation & maintenance of SHP. There is a reason to believe that through the implementation of the “China-Pakistan Joint Research on SHP Technology” project, SHP can better play as a clean and renewable energy in South Asia and make contributions to global energy conservation and emission reduction.
