PAŽANGIŲJŲ MATAVIMŲ SISTEMŲ DIEGIMO PROBLEMATIKA DARBUOTOJŲ KOMPETENCIJŲ KONTEKSTE

Problems of integrated measurement systems in the context of employees' competences

Abstract

The adoption of energy efficiency measures is shifting the building installation industry towards green technologies, such as smart metering and home automation, bringing significant changes on workplace requirements and training. Electricians, apart from technical proficiency, require a combination of digital and environmental skills to respond to the installation, maintenance, and programming of smart metering and energy efficiency home automation systems. Although the adoption of energy measures for building installation is promoted under national and EU initiatives, the provision of relevant vocational education and training (VET) is insufficient in quality and quantity, fragmented and infrequent, not adequately addressing the needs of the sector. There is, thus, a clear challenge to increase the quality of VET provision for electricians to match their competences and skills with smart metering and home automation needs of a fast-changing market and to promote employability within the sector.

The aim of the research - to analyse the opinion of employers of the energy sector in different European countries on the need for the employees‘ competence in smart metering and home automation.

 Respondents in different European countries have been fairly ambiguous about the importance of employees‘ competences in implementing smart metering technologies and home automation systems. This could be influenced by the different experiences of the countries and the level of implementation of smart metering.

The results of the research show that knowledge of the network infrastructure and a wide range of smart devices including Internet systems, the impact of smart meters and home automation systems on the environment are among the key knowledge and competences of the EU labor market in the field of smart measurement and home automation. The most desired technical skills of employees are related to the implementation of smart devices and automatic systems in new buildings and the modification of housing automation technologies in the existing buildings, the technical skills of incorporating smart metering technologies into automated housing infrastructure. Sufficiently important respondents consider skills such as customer consultation about the right choice of automation systems, the use of systems and their environmental and economic impacts, and a deeper knowledge of home automation systems and smart devices.

Having summarized the results of the research, the working group of Electrical and Electronics Study lecturers of Panevezys University of Applied Science together with partners from the SMARTEL project, suggested a solution to the problem: to create an open virtual training course on smart metering and home automation systems employed electricians and vocational training providers.

After defining the outcomes the training course on smart metering and home automation based on survey results from five European countries, European employers and vocational training providers are offered an open training course "Smart Metering and Home Automation Skills for Electricians", consisting of 6 parts: building engineering systems automation, energy management, intelligent control systems networks, sensors, intelligent device programming and installation, programming of user interface for automated devices.