Brief report on Vayumitra Foundation Course

NIWE has submitted a proposal to MNRE for conducting 10 numbers of “Vayumitra Foundation Course” on Wind Energy Technology with five days duration at NIWE, Chennai and GRI, Dindigul (five courses at each institute). MNRE has approved the proposal and sanctioned to train 350 numbers of participants. As per the sanction, 10 courses have to be completed by June 2020, due to COVID-19 lockdown and its restriction, time extension has been requested to complete all 10 courses till December 2020. Accordingly, MNRE has provided its approval for time extension and suggested to check the possibilities for conducting the training through online mode for the knowledge component of the training adopting to the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

As suggested by MNRE, the five days courses were split into two phases for engineers. The Phase - I with two days online training for knowledge component and Phase - II with three days physical / contact training at NIWE, Chennai Campus for skill component. All five courses at the Gandhigram Rural Institute (GRI), Dindigul are physical / contact courses as it is for ITI & Diploma holders.

The "Vayumitra Foundation Course" aimed to provide a complete overview about the Wind Energy Technology starting from introduction to wind power and its technology, wind resource assessment, installation and commissioning of wind turbine generator, operation and maintenance aspects of wind farms along with policy issues. This course was designed to cater to the needs of various personnel's such as technicians, engineers etc. focusing on un-employed youth with rural background with the focused group of technicians, diploma and graduates/post graduates engineers/professionals.

The information brochure of the training was circulated widely through emails, NIWE websites and other social media pages. The registration from the eligible candidates were received through a 'Google Form', emails and also by hand.

Training at NIWE

The Skill Development and Training (SDT) Division of NIWE has successfully conducted the Vayumitra Foundation Course on "Wind Energy Technology", sponsored by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India for 5 Batches with 175 participants.

The following are the schedule of the online and physical training courses:

An overwhelming nomination of 481 applications received for the training courses scheduled at NIWE and shortlisted 175 appropriate candidates by following the eligibility criteria prescribed and also as per the norms of Government of India. The 175 participants for the online training were from 17 States (Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) and 2 Union Territories (New Delhi and Pondicherry). Due to various reasons, 69 participants who had attended the online training courses, could not able to participate the physical / contact courses conducted at NIWE, Chennai and hence fresh 69 participants have been selected and conducted online courses exclusively for them on 09th & 10th February 2021 and allowed them to attend the physical / contact training courses.

The following are the participant details who had attended the online and physical training courses conducted at NIWE:

During the 5 days course (online and physical), 17 classroom lectures and 3 practical sessions at different laboratories were scheduled. The course content of the training were handled by Scientists and Engineers of NIWE.

The practical sessions on Wind Monitoring Station installation, assembling of Sensors, data collection and analysis were also scheduled during the training. The Renewable energy facilities and the Wind Turbine Training System at NIWE campus were also showcased / demonstrated to all the participants.

GLIMPSE OF TRAINING

Group Photo

The course structure and organization of training was highly appreciated by the participants. The participants were very much satisfied by the quality of lectures and hospitality they found in NIWE, Chennai, India.

The participants have given positive feedback with the training course conducted on the virtual mode. The content was rated as excellent by 126 participants (72%), good by 47 participants (27%) and satisfactory by 1 participant (1%). Out of 175 participants, 133 participants (76%) rated as excellent, 41 participants (23%) rated as good and 1 participant (1%) rated as satisfactory about the organization of the course.

The participants have given positive feedback with the training course conducted on the physical / contact mode. The resource materials distributed and its pertinent and usefulness was rated as excellent by 135 participants (77%), good by 35 participants (20%) and satisfactory by 5 participants (3%). As the course was framed to be more interactive with an aim to provide a platform for exchange of ideas, 126 participants (72) felt as excellent, 41 participants (23%) rated as good and 8 participants (5%) rated as satisfactory about the answer provided by the speakers. Out of 175 participants, 131 participants (75%) rated as excellent, 40 participants (23%) rated as good and 4 participants (2%) rated as satisfactory about the overall training.

Training at GRI

The Gandhigram Rural Institute – Deemed to be University has successfully conducted the Vayumitra Foundation Course on "Wind Energy Technology" of 5 Batches of training with 185 participants of ITI / Diploma holders. An overwhelming nominations were received for the training courses scheduled at GRI and shortlisted 185 appropriate candidates by following the eligibility criteria prescribed and also as per the norms of Government of India. MNRE has sanctioned only 175 participants through 5 training courses (35 participants per course) but GRI has trained 185 participants from different districts of Tamil Nadu.

During the 5 days course, 40% of theory class and 60% of hands on training at different laboratories has been imported. The course content of the training was handled by the experts from NIWE, GRI, Wind Industries and premier academic institutions.

The practical sessions on Wind Monitoring Station, data collection and analysis and performance evaluation of Small and Micro Wind Turbines were also scheduled during the training. The Renewable energy facilities and the Wind Turbine Training System at GRI campus were also showcased / demonstrated to all the participants apart from field visits to working wind farms. Additionally, Yoga classes and Gandhian value courses were also arranged as part of the course. The feedback is very much satisfactory.

The following are the schedule of the training courses and no. of participants attended in each batch are as follows;

GLIMPSE OF TRAINING

Download : Brochure