Applications Are Open for Online Clean Energy Certificate Program
The deadline for applying for the 2022-23 cohort of the Financing and Deploying Clean Energy Certificate Program (FDCE) is March 13. The course, which mixes synchronous and asynchronous learning, begins on July 11.
The Yale Center for Business and the Environment is now accepting applications for the 2022-23 cohort of the Financing and Deploying Clean Energy Certificate Program (FDCE), a 10-month online course designed to provide working professionals with an understanding of the policy, finance, and technology aspects of clean energy deployment.
The course, which includes synchronous and asynchronous learning, begins on July 11. The deadline for applications is March 13. The FDCE is aimed at professionals in finance, government, power generation, and research and advocacy.
Instructors are drawn from the Yale School of Management, the Yale School of the Environment, and Yale College, as well as practitioners from industry, government, and nonprofit organizations. The curriculum includes courses on energy, finance, technology, innovation, and project finance.
Some courses are self-directed; others include regular live sessions, giving participants a chance to interact with the instructors and their classmates. “The live sessions really are interactive,” says attorney Fred Hadidi, who is currently enrolled in the 2021-22 session of FDCE. “The sessions were either usually a professor or a guest speaker discussing something relevant to that week’s topic and with 130-plus very smart people watching. The questions and comments were always fantastic and thought-provoking.”
Past participants say that they were able to use the insight gained in the course immediately. Ivan Asiiwme, who is now a technical advisor at ClearSky Power in Somalia, was working as a technology officer at Development Bank of Rwanda while enrolled in the course in 2019-20. “When I had just started my role at the Development Bank, I was only looking at the technical reviews, but now I feel more confident in myself and my ability to provide all-around due diligence on projects that are seeking clean energy financing,” he says. “That is a great milestone to show that I am gaining a lot of knowledge, which I really appreciate.”
The network formed during the course provides ongoing benefits after it concludes. “I’m keeping in touch with as many people as I can from the program because everybody has been very happy to share what they know; after all, it’s for the betterment of everyone else,” says Julia Emerson of TRC Companies, who also completed FDCE in 2020. “When I have a question on community solar, I’ll reach out to the cohort members who are in community solar; then, if I have a question on financing I’ll reach out to the cohorts who are in financing, in green bank or other banks.”