New training concept for central inverter maintenance

It’s all in the mix: The SMA Solar Academy combines digital and analog formats in its new blended learning format. Previously, maintenance training for central inverters Sunny Central and Sunny Central Storage took place exclusively as classroom training sessions at the Solar Academy in Niestetal, Germany. Instead of four days in the training center, only two days will now be held at the Solar Academy. The theoretical parts of the training sessions will take place beforehand on four half days as remote training sessions. “This is more flexible, fits better into everyday work and family life and, on top of that, participants save overnight accommodation costs,” said Academy trainer Jan Roessler. The new blended learning training offer will begin at the end of September 2022 and will apply to all Sunny Central Storage training sessions as well as most Sunny Central training sessions. This has been well received: many training courses are already fully booked.

Jan, how exactly does the new blended learning training concept look?

Jan: The training is divided into a theoretical general part and a practical part. The theory part now takes place online and participants can be wherever they like, whether it’s on a computer at home or in the office. I stand in front of our inverter and stream the training session live from our training room. In order to keep everything easily digestible, we limit ourselves to four half days in the first week. The practical part then takes place in the following week, on two days, here at the Solar Academy.

What made you decide to restructure maintenance training?

We found that a lot of theoretical content could be taught very well online, especially during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The customers took to the webinars very well and were pleased that they could participate conveniently from wherever they were. We now want to maintain these benefits as much as possible. This also puts us in a stable position for the next wave of COVID-19.We have had some in-person training sessions this year that had to be discontinued after the first few days because someone in the participant group tested positive for COVID-19.

The SMA Günther Cramer Solar Academy at Niestetal in Germany. In the climate-neutral and energy-self-sufficient building, SMA offers training courses for solar experts from all over the world.

But COVID-19 is not the only reason, is it?

No. I often have participants in the training sessions whose heads are spinning after the first day. That’s why I now package the learning content in small, more digestible bites. Here, at the Solar Academy, we can now focus much better on the practical parts, such as component replacement exercises.

How are customers responding to the new approach?

It has been very well received by our customers, and many of the training sessions on offer have already been fully booked. It also makes perfect economic sense. Instead of four days, the participants are now away from the workplace for only two days. So it is also more family-friendly. I think that everyone benefits from this new approach – apart from the hoteliers in Kassel 😉.

Thank you for the interview, Jan.

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