Find out how Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and Mulilo are bringing skills, jobs and growth to a South African community, as well as offering a pathway to overcoming the renewables skills gap globally.
What’s the use of solar panels or wind turbines if you can’t install and maintain them? The energy transition is built on people with knowhow.
In South Africa as in many parts of the world, a lack of specific new skills threatened the viability of a clean energy future. Enter a ground-breaking collaboration between South African renewable energy developer Mulilo and global leader in renewable energy infrastructure Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP): the Mulilo Danish Vocational Program (DVP). This initiative is equipping young people in South Africa with skills through world-class technical and vocational training, offering inspiration for similar programmes on a global scale.
This year the first students from towns across the Northern Cape completed their training in Denmark, with CIP now looking to scale the project across South Africa and other countries where it operates. These might sound like small steps, but the DVP partnership offers a template for overcoming foundational barriers to renewable energy transitions everywhere: bridging skills gaps, fostering community trust and aligning efforts across government, business and civil society.
CIP first invested in Mulilo in 2023, helping to bring renewable energy to rural communities in the Northern Cape, and together they now operate two wind farms and four solar farms, with several more at the planning stage.
At the start of every new project, CIP and Mulilo engage with local communities, finding out about their specific needs and how they can help to meet them. Their work in the Northern Cape showed that along with health and access to water, unemployment and jobs topped communities’ lists of concerns.
So we do a number of things that may not directly relate to how we deliver a project on the ground, but which are absolutely pivotal in our license to operate.
And so the DVP was born.
More than 2,000 young people were interviewed for the project, with 30 students eventually chosen to take part. Two thirds attended a technical college, learning the skills needed to install solar panels, maintain wind turbines and boost their own long-term employment prospects. The rest worked with Danish agricultural experts to develop the skills needed to become the next generation of farmers in their communities.
But this isn’t purely about altruism, he adds. “Having a positive impact on the local communities next to our energy projects is absolutely pivotal to our work. Being a force for good and offering good returns for our investors are absolutely linked.”
DVP also allowed CIP to build close ties with the Danish Embassy in Pretoria, who were quick to champion the project, and help solve challenges around visas, passports and other logistical issues.
And this collaboration has also had a wider impact. When community leaders asked for help with their water supply, CIP were able to call on their new links with the Danish government. This led to the creation of a consortium of Danish businesses with the expertise needed to bring clean water to 40,000 local people. This ripple effect demonstrates how renewable energy initiatives can act as catalysts, unlocking multi-level cooperation toward sustainable development.
Although the needs of every community are different, says Fred, elements of the DVP can be replicated alongside other projects. “We want to make engagement and positive impact a standard way in which we work with communities,” he says, “and develop an off-the-shelf formula for creating a positive impact wherever we operate.”
News of the programme also filtered through to the government in Copenhagen, who were so impressed at its ambition that they have channelled development money for education programmes in South Africa to match-fund DVP for the next five years. For the energy transition to happen at the scale and pace needed around the world, such examples of private-public collaboration will be crucial.
There are plans to support similar educational work in countries including the Philippines, Chile and Mexico, while in South Africa, the next step is to double the number of places available to South African students. CIP are also working with the Danish government and colleges to explore the possibility of setting up a permanent base for the project in South Africa.
South Africa’s energy transition is at a crucial juncture. The Mulilo Danish Vocational Program (DVP) is unlocking the human potential needed to deploy renewable energy at scale, while empowering communities and catalysing local economies.
Overcoming key challenges – a shortage of technical skills, the need for genuine community engagement, complex cross-border logistical hurdles – this partnership offers a scalable model for the world. By combining vocational training, close collaboration with local leaders and strong government and diplomatic support, the DVP has created a blueprint for replicable success that bridges workforce development and social impact. This initiative proves that accelerating clean energy worldwide depends as much on investing in people and partnerships as on technology alone.
For other companies looking to make an impact, adds Fred, the most important thing is that you really need to care.
