The Nordex Education Trust, which has been operating for almost a decade, continues to award bursaries to students, across the green energy landscape, with a particular focus on engineering or related disciplines. Most recently, this Trust has appointed two trustees to further strengthen its resolve to drive education within the beneficiary communities where Nordex Energy South Africa has built and is operating no less than nine wind farms.

“We work to specifically benefit students in the communities closest to where our wind farms operate and have hence built solid relationships within these community structures. Our mandate is that of provision of scholarships and bursaries, with an approach of supporting students for their three- or four-year periods of study, to ensure that they complete their tertiary education and can be further exposed to meaningful enterprising opportunities,” said Compton Saunders, Managing Director of Nordex Energy South Africa, and Trustee of the Nordex Education Trust.

Marion Green-Thompson and Odette Ramsingh have joined Saunders as Trustees, providing the expertise required to ensure that the Trust enters its second decade with unwavering resolve to assist historically disadvantaged and marginalised people, within host communities, to gain access to education and training skills, to facilitate their participation in the economy.

Both trustees have backgrounds in education – currently, Ramsingh is the executive director of Human Resources at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, and Green-Thompson a former teacher – and are committed to making a difference in the lives of skilled young professionals.

Furthermore, Green-Thompson has deep roots in the renewable energy sector specifically in the area of economic development and already serves as an Independent Trustee of two renewable energy Community Trusts.  These entities form part of the country’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme (REIPPPP), which mandates that there must be community ownership in Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

“For the country to transition to a future where green power truly benefits it’s people, we will need to work towards inclusiveness on many fronts, including our host communities’ ability to access the economy in a meaningful way – and for this to happen, education and job creation will be key,” concluded Saunders.