Andhra Pradesh rolls out plan for country's largest green skilling initiative, signs MoUs with Suzlon & Swaniti

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday launched India’s largest green skilling initiative to develop employment opportunities for youth in the fast-growing renewable energy sector.

As part of this, the Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) signed an MoU with Suzlon Energy to train 12,000 people in key renewable energy project areas such as mechanical, electrical, and blade technology, civil, and licensing. Suzlon Energy would further establish five skill labs in select ITIs and polytechnic colleges. Short-term (3-12 months) and long-term (more than 12 months) courses would be designed to offer vocational training for youth in Andhra Pradesh in renewable energy.

Given their vast experience as India’s largest wind turbine manufacturer partner with over 21,000 MW of installed capacity, Suzlon Energy would provide the expertise required for the youth of Andhra Pradesh to be skilled in various areas of renewable energy and develop job opportunities. On the occasion, Suzlon Energy was represented by their group CEO JP Chalasani and other senior officials like advisor, VB Rao, Chief HRO, Rajendra Mehra and Lead Talent Management, Kamalini Sanyal.

To further enhance skill development in renewable energy, APSSDC also entered into a key MoU with Swaniti Initiative to develop green skilling in the state. The institute will also extend full support for sharpening the skills with regard to skill development and will focus on identifying key sectors and industries to promote the job market.

The trustee of Swaniti Initiative, Uma Bhattacharya, the State consultant, Siva Prasad, Secretary of School Education and Skill Development, Kona Sasidhar, Managing Director, Ganesh Kumar and the Executive Director of Skill Development Corporation, Dinesh Kumar, and others were present at the programme.

As per the agreement entered into on Tuesday, over the next two years, Swaniti Initiative would map job requirements of renewable energy sector in Chittoor, Nellore, Kadapa, Anantapur and Kurnool. Swaniti will prepare a draft on the strategy in the coming four months for developing skills in the renewable energy sector and also formulate plans for its implementation. Also, this organisation would conduct skill landscape assessment for the renewable energy sector.

The MoUs were entered into in the presence of the Minister for Education, Information Technology (IT) and Electronics, Nara Lokesh. “Green Energy is one of the major areas of focus for the Government of Andhra Pradesh and we aim to develop a total of 7.5 lakh jobs from this sector. Given the renewable energy push across the world, we would like Andhra to be a hub for green talent for the whole world. Towards this end, I am happy we could sign MoUs with Suzlon Energy and Swaniti Initiative to focus specifically on this space. The outcome of these initiatives would result in widespread job creation for the youth of Andhra Pradesh,” said Lokesh.