Partnership Meeting III (Coimbra)

On Wednesday 19th October we visited the town of Penela, where we went to the ETP Sico school (Escola Tecnologica Profissonal de Sico). We viewed an electrical engineering class of students aged 18-19, who were happily designing and connecting simple household lighting circuits. The school has achieved the top Eco-Escolas Green Flag award for having a very low energy consumption.

We also visited Penela Castle, which was built to defend the town from being re-conquered by the Moors in the 11th Century. We then were received by the President of the Camara Municipal de Penela, Sr. Antonio Alves, who very kindly welcomed the delegations of Turkey, Slovakia, and the UK, and explained the administrative difficulties of a region such as Penela, with a small population of just 6,000, but with 92 villages. The education system in the region had recently been streamlined from 13 schools into just 3, with a great deal of investment, meaning that the administrative overhead had been greatly reduced, enabling much greater opportunities for the students.

Bill

The 3rd transnational meeting turned out to be very successful. We achieved all the planned activities in less time than predicted. We decided to follow what had been agreed upon at the previous meeting in London – one day would be dedicated to visits and the other would focus entirely on the meeting at the hotel. The last day should consist on the guests doing some exploring of their own.

On the first day of the meeting, we aimed to provide our guests with a general impression of how the RE vocational training course operated at ETP Sicó, from beginning to end. Our guests visited the school, where the students have their theoretical lessons; they visited the workshops, where they learn the practical side of the course; and also a company where ETP Sicó’s students get real work experience.

This last destination consisted of a visit to the Fajão Windfarm (the biggest in Portugal), in Pampilhosa da Serra, operated by the Danish firm Vestas. Here we were received by Mr. Rodrigo Pena, who is responsible for supervising all wind farms in central Portugal.

We ended the first day with what Portugal does best, Bacalhau (roasted cod fish) and red wine. Our host, Ricardo Reis did his best to receive us in his wine cellar where he had laid out a huge table amongst the wine vats. Everybody used the opportunity to get to know each other a bit more.

We began the second day of the meeting at 9:30am in the meeting room of the hotel in Coimbra. Each group gave an oral presentation of their National Report with the aid of a video projector. After we had all given our presentations we discussed possible adjustments and corrections to be made. The group coordinator – Baris Ozcelik did an excellent job moderating the work. Following this we began to discuss the preparation of the Benchmark report. All groups committed to a workplan and distribution of tasks of partners.

Following a delicious meal in a typical Portuguese restaurant near the hotel, we began planning the next meeting. It was agreed that it would be from the 29th February to the 2nd March 2011. Finally, each group wrote an evaluation of the meeting to be placed on the group’s blog. To conclude the day’s activities we all walked to the riverside and had a farewell coffee.

Since many of the groups’ participants had to leave the following morning it was agreed that on the last day we would not meet formally, since all the objectives regarding the meeting had been achieved.

Stephen

The visit to Penela, Coimbra was quite good for we have the opportunity to see the VESTAS wind power plant and the renewable education issues are being taken seriously in this nice small town.

Renewvet team visited the workshops and the classrooms (located in different sites) of the Escola Tecnologica e Professional de Sico.

The visit to the castle and the kind reception of the local president were sparkled the day. The evening was also very enjoyable with the nice surprise of having dinner in a local wine production facility. The meetings next day helped country teams to come up with finalized outline of the country report and the deadline for completing the country reports (30th Nov., 2011) was determined.

İlker Ongun

The visit of the Portugal is very impressive for me. We see the fantastic places of Lisboa and Coimbra and also the meetings are effective. We visit the Vestas wind farm which include about 35 turbine with 115 MW rated power. We talking with Vestas technician and talking about experiences. Also we visit the Portugal group's education center ETP SICO, we talking with their vocational students about renewable energy technologies and their vocational education system. Then at the meeting, we were listen to the country reports and I think the benchmark report is will be success with this working

groups. We were compare the renewable energy status for each country group, and i think its a good chance for us to listening the country representations.  We were talking about next meetings and it's

contents. Thanks for Portugal groups kind hospitality.

Fırat Salmanoglu

The 3rd project meeting started with pleasant welcome of the lovely country of Portugal at the Porto airport. We appreciated especially the warm weather The whole „Slovak“ group of participants managed to find the way to Coimbra thanks to clear instructions received from the organizers. We enjoyed the first day of interesting excursions and the visit of the wind park (not so much the travelling there, but we have managed also this part ). The overall program of the meeting went on very well, things have become clear - we all know our further tasks and finally we are looking to the organization of the next meeting in lovely winter atmosphere in Slovakia – don’t forget to bring your skis and warm gloves and caps!

Slovak Group

It was our longest trip in  this project.We came to Lisbon first andstay two days.It was very enjoyable to see Lisbon from sightseeing bus. In first day in Coimbra  It was a good experience to see second large wind farm of Portugal.(the way of wind farm  was excellent. I feel my self on the clouds)Vestas is one of the biggest company related with wind power.we got good knowledges about capacities

maintenance, controlling the system etc. I think it is very good value to get %15 of energy from renewable for  Portugal.My friends from Ankara decided to transfer as technical theacher to Penela to work with Mr Vieira after seeing conditions in his school. In the dinner no one afraid of the vine glasses will empty.Becouse it was guaranteed by the producer.At the end we nearly completed our  country reports. Every thing is ok. It means we understand each other clearly. After one more step we  will get main outcomes of our project. I have to say thank you for their hospitality of our Portugal partners.

Serdar

Thanks for the hospitality of ETP SICO team in Portuguese. I enjoyed much during our visitation to Penela. It was also nice to share the happiness of the 20th year of the school. I was surprised very much at our dinner and liked it too much. Considering the Renewvet project, we are coming to the end of the project and I am pretty sure that the project outputs will be useful. I am also so pleased that the partners are agreed to participate in Ege International Energy Symposium (www.egeenergy.org). This event will enable us to share the products of the project internationally. Looking forward to seeing Renewvet team in Slovekia for the next meeting.

Mete Çubukçu

Partnership Meeting II (London)

The place of the 2nd meeting – London – welcomed us with a nice weather and closed Platform No.4 on the Gatwick Railway station. Our “travel instructions” start to be wasted and we have to improvising. Fortunately, thanks to very well organized London traffic we found right way to hotel without great problems. Project meeting shows that situation in the education systems in partners countries are too different and I wonder how result of this project will appear. Thank to Embrace guys for nice stay in London and see all in Portugal ☺

Zuzana

First off all I like London. The meetings and technical tours were effective for our team and also for me. Bedzed was good demonstration for renewable energies but maybe they need little maintains. Bottom line it was good experience for me and I appreciate for every thing to Dirk for every thing.

Gyuner Ahmed

Second meeting of the project, but my first participating in. And also my first visit to London and it was exciting. So the project meetings and the visits to North West London College and BedZed are very effective times for me. I think the project will be succesfull if the tasks will do each team. And thanks for Embrace hospitality and also Dirk.

Firat

Our trip has started with Visa struggling, finally having UK visa, we felt very happy ☺, it was really astonishing that we get the visas at the last day before our trip.

We arrived London on Saturday, since we don’t know London underground very well, it was very difficult for us to transport with our colleague who has wheelchair.

It seems London has a lot to improve on for disabled people. At first day, country presentations took place, we saw that all the partners are ready to fill up their country reports. After presentations, North West College visit was also very interesting, since our school is also vocational college, we had opportunity to compare education environment, workshops, equipments. We found school very well structured, but not so much interesting regarding renewable trainings. Second day, Mr. Graham’s presentation was also interesting, but it seems UK also needs much efforts to adapt NVQ to EQF. For us, being at the start seemed less complicated ☺

Third day, we worked on report structure, our partners from Portugal and Slovakia found Turkish team more ambitious than the project required ☺ But, at the last, I think we reached common agreement about the structure.

Coming to Bedzed, it is the first time I have seen such facility with almost zero carbon emission. I hope one day most of the buildings turns in to that way. Probably, it will be must. Finally, thanks to Dirk and Fergal for their hospitable welcome.

Baris Ozcelik

The most attractive parts of this visitation were BedZED and Graham’s presentation about the existing vocational training status on renewables in UK. Although I sometimes lose my motivation, I am glad to be a member of RenewVET. I am willing to see the successful outputs of the project.

Mete Çubukçu

I admire BedZED. On the other hand I enjoyed London, specially the parks.

Yildirim Özkaya

For us that are “beginners” in these kind of things (international projects and renewable energies) everything we can learn is rewarding. A special thanks to Dirk and Fergal of EMBRACE CORPORATION for the hospitality and a word of thanks to Barish Ozcelik for the initiative. Thanks for all for the kindness. See you in Penela in October.

Guilherme Vieira

The 2nd partnership meeting was prepared for the last weeks (since March 2011) by supporting Turkish participants with their visa support letters, arranging the accommodation, assessing best transport options (to the office/ meeting place, going into town etc). We then prepared the programme and send it for review to everybody. It was important for us that the programme was suitable within the project but also allows for flexibility if the group would like changes to be made. We picked up the participants from their hotel, 20min by bus from the meeting place in Brixton, South London. We have one person in a wheelchair and this meant to analyse the transportation carefully. It is easier to go around by bus, more difficult to use the underground or British Rail because there are not many stations that have disabled access, or that had working lifts. For me it was the first time I travelled with someone in a wheelchair and it was shocking how difficult it can be to get around town without support. How much can wheelchair users in London enjoy what the city has to offer?

Dirk Bischof

Partnership Meeting I (Ankara)

Day I

Renewable Energy is our responsibility to our grandchildren. So, it is our future. People recognizing this reality and working on it will make all the difference. When I meet our group, I saw these kind of people making a difference.

Everybody was so positive and motivated on the subject. Presentations of partner institutions showed that the selection of partners was very successful. I’m amazed that all that structure has been established in only a week.

In the afternoon, a school visit took place. Although our school didn’t have so much to offer especially at the end of the day, it was a nice welcoming of our friends made me happy. Because, I didn’t have so much time to organize school visit, considering I spent most of my time in local directorate rather than the school. Many thanks to the colleagues in our school.

Baris

We arrived in Ankara after a very long flight from London via Munich and got to Ankara around lunch time. We were picked up by a friendly cab service waiting for us at the airport. Then we went to our hotel in the new district of Ankara, just outside the city centre. We noticed that not many people in Ankara wear seatbelts - not even the police. This is a very interesting experience coming from the UK (being born in Germany) where seatbelt enforcement is so strict and the fines (at €60) are prohibitively high.

Dirk Bischof

Day II

At the beginning of the meeting partners presented their institution with interesting information in order to give way for further cooperation. The afternoon’s visit to the Mimar Sinan Vocational School convinced the group that the Turkish are a very kind and hospitable people. The common dinner in the Irish Pub (hooray there is an Irish Pub in Ankara) was a pleasant conclusion of the first working day of the RENEWVET Partnership.

Review of the project outcomes and tasks took place in a friendly atmosphere and we continued by visiting the METU – Middle East Technical University and Center for Solar Energy research and applications. It was a nice experience to return back to the university and remember how we covered thin layers, subsidized semiconductors by ions or created conductive layers of the silicon chips. The evening continued in the traditional Turkish Kebab Restaurant – Mangal and Turkish beer in Hayylam Pub.

Zuzana and Loreta

This partnership project is very exciting for us as we are together with new project partners we've not worked with before. This is always interesting as new ideas and ways of working can be explored collaboratively and new lessons can be learned. The topic of Renewable Energy is at the heart of what Embrace does and we wish to share our experiences with anyone interested. There is still quite a difference in the uptake of renewables in all partner countries and on the first day we heard very interesting presentations from all partners about the state of renewables in their countries and regions, together with a partner introduction.

Dirk Bischof

Day III

I would never have imagined that all the tasks would have been distributed between partners in 20 minutes. Everybody was ready to take responsibility, but special thanks to Dirk and Mete for taking even more. After the meeting we went sightseeing, the mausoleum was magnificent, as it is always used to be.The panoramic war section of the museum was also very good, the emotional speech of the soldier guiding us was really interesting. The Castle offered traditional things to buy , taking this opportunity, Stephen spent all his money . The dinner at the Mangal restaurant was very relaxing after all the mornings rush. Extremely spicy Turkish foods were the main subject of the evening. I am looking forward our next meeting and a walk around Hyde Park, too. Warmest Regards from cold Malmö.

Baris

Its amazing to see how diverse this partnership actually is, from universities to NGO's, vocational high schools to commercial companies. This makes for an interesting learning experience. This project will help us to further understand renewables in a European context and also the similarities, differences and country specific specific context for training and development in this area. Nothing will go forward in this sector unless there are well trained operatives being able to design, install and maintain renewable energy equipment - be it Solar PV, hydro, or wind power. Vocational training should be at the heart of every country establishing feed-in laws and other incentive schemes.

Dirk Bischof

Our impressions of the meeting held in Ankara were very positive. ETP Sicó Penela - represented by Mr. Guilherme Vieira, Director of the vocational school in Penela, and myself, Stephen Thomas, can safely say that all objectives proposed in the schedule organized by Mr. Baris Ozcelik were achieved.

On the first day of the meeting, each of us introduced our respective institutions and explained in English what exactly we did regarding renewable energies. After seeing a presentation on the vocational system in Turkey we were given a very interesting tour of Mimar Sinan Vocational High School. Here we observed how renewable energies were taught on a vocational level.

On the second day of the meeting we began by presenting the situation of renewable energies in our respective countries. After lunch we began by discussing the objectives, results, expected impacts dissemination and communication between partners. All participants agreed that part of our project would consist of creating common country reports that would follow the same layout for each one. Following a short break, the visiting partners were taken to Ankara University where they were shown how photovoltaic solar panels were being developed in Turkey.



Finally, in the morning of the third and last day of the meeting, we established a work plan and timetable of future meetings. All partners made a positive evaluation of the meeting. During the afternoon we were taken on a tour of Ataturk’s mausoleum, which provided a valuable insight into Turkey’s past and present. ETP Sicó Penela was pleased to note that, during the course of all of the meetings, we were accompanied by a member of the Ministry of Education, Mr. Ismet Kebapci, who was also a valuable source of information. In addition to this, we were delighted with the accommodation and transport organized by our host, Mr. Ozcelik, to whom we would like to say a special thank you.

Stephen Thomas