We conducted the study tour «Energy Efficient and Energy Saving Technologies in the European Union Countries. The Use of Renewable Energy Sources. Modern Methods of Training Energy Professionals» jointly with the European partners from the 10th to the 25th of September 2014 in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Slovenia, the Republic of Austria, the Czech Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany. The main objective of the study tour was to demonstrate the experience of the European countries in the area of energy efficient and energy saving technologies, the use of renewable energy, the advanced technologies in training energy professionals.

The tour started in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and right upon arrival in Amsterdam the tour participants visited Qurrent Nederland B.V., where they were familiarized with the main areas of the company's activities in the Dutch market. The participants pointed out the interesting and unique program of the company in terms of working with the communities on the use of solar panels and energy generation from the renewable sources.

In the Dutch town of Eindhoven the group visited the unique Philips Museum. The management of the museum and its staff warmly welcomed the delegation from Kazakhstan and talked about the history of development of the world-renowned company.

The Kazakhstan group visited the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. The management of the University prepared a special seminar of the current status in the energy sector of Hungary, the Hungarian experience in the area of energy saving and the use of renewable energy sources. Doctor Adam Covacs, Vice-Dean for Scientific and International Affairs of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, welcomed the study tour participants on behalf of the University.

The visit of the specialized technical school in Budapest ÚjpestiKét Tanítási Nyelvű Műszaki Szakközépiskolaés Szakiskola, offering training to the technical specialists for the power sector in Hungary, had a lasting impression on the tour participants. The School Director Ms Rita Hakne and her deputies for academic and international affairs warmly welcomed the participants of the Kazakhstan delegation. Theydiscussed the history of the school, the main areas of work and the teaching and training methods.

The study tour participants visited the Hungarian company VERTESZElektronika Kft, that develops and produces power quality tools. Since the late 1980-ies and in the middle of the 1990-ies both Russia and Europe put in force the standard regulating the quality indicators of the medium and low voltage electricity. VERTESZElektronika turned out to be one of the first producers entering the market with the devices registering the quality of electricity to meet the standard requirements.

The Kazakhstan group visited the Hungarian State Electricity Transmission Enterprise – MAVIR group. The participants were briefed on the current status of the Hungarian electricity distribution system and saw the online electronic enery supply map of Hungary, learned about the existing volumes of electricity generated within the country and the imports of electricity from the neighbouring countries and discussed the issues related to the operations of various distribution equipment of high, medium and low capacity, the impact of weather conditions and transmission grid maintenance and repair works.

The group visited a hotel near the resort town of Heviz, that uses the opportunity to heat up its buildings through the geothermal energy. The participants learnt abouth the operations of the equipment with the use of the earth energy.

It is with great interest that the participants visited the nuclear power plant in the town of Krško. The group met with the representatives of the nuclear power plant management, attended the presentation on the current status of the power sector of Slovenia and the role of the nuclear power plant in the country's energy supply system. The Krško Nuclear Power Plant was built as a joint venture of Slovenia and Croatia, that were a part of the former Yugoslavia at the time of construction. The nuclear power plant has one block only with a pressurized water reactor (PWR), developed and built by the American Westinghouse. The plant covers about 25% of Slovenia's and 15% of Croatia's energy demand.

After the presentation the participants had the opportunity to have a tour of the nuclear power plant and to ask the administration respresentatives questions of interest to them.

The participants visited the Slovenian Energy Development Institute and Center “Zel-Enrazvojni center energetike d.o.o.”, which is located close to the power plant. After meeting the management and getting familiarized with the center, the participants underscored the importance of such a center and the energy sector related research, as well as the importance of establishing a unique museum featuring vairous energy sources and the ways to generate energy fom the renewable sources. A demonstration was provided to the group to show how school children and students can be trained using the unique interactive stands, as well as the scale models with the images of scaled down copies of the nuclear reactor and hydroturbines.

The group visited a hydro power plant close to Krško, located on the Sava river, which is a part of the cascade power plant group on this river. The study tour participants met with the hydro power plant management, attended a small presentation and had a tour of the plant.

The study tour participants visited the company Elektro Ljubljana. The group was warmly welcomed by the Company President Mr Andrej Ribic and his deputies who kindly offered a talk on the company and its areas of expertise.

After having visited Electro Ljubljana, the group visited the Milan Vidmar Electric Power Research Institute. The Institute management organized a meeting with the research fellows of the Institute who talked about the Institute's activities and projects.

A visit of the training center Velenje Business School had a lasting impression. After touring the principal academic facilities and technical laboratories the study tour participants emphasized the high technical level of the center and the importance of such centers for training energy professionals. The group had a tour of the smart house which is designed and built in such a way that it does not depend on the electricity, heat and hot water supply. The house fully integrates the modern technologies and generates its own electricity using solar batteries, therefore, fully securing electricity for lighting, heating and various home appliances. The house design minimizes heat losses and maximizes the use of sun light.

The program in Austria started with a visit of Hotel Thermenhof Paierl, where the group got familiarized with the method of using the underground thermal waters to heat up the building. The hotel owner Mr Erwin Paierl kindly provided an opportunity to tour the hotel's technical facilities and explained the main principles of ensuring heating with the use of underground themal waters, that the hotel also uses for the water treatment of its customers. The group met with Mr Thomas Kloss, the manager of CONGAIA SOLAR, at the hotel's conference room. CONGAIA SOLAR ENERGY specializes on producing solar batteries powered street lights.

The Kazakhstan delegation visited GreenOne Tec Solarindustrie GmbH and a subsidiary KIOTO Photovoltaics GmbH. The group was welcomed by Ms Monica Lasnig, the company manager. She familiarized the group with the main types of the solar panels produced by the company and took the group on a tour of the company's produciton facilities.

A visit of the technical school HTL Mödling was of great interest. This school trains technicians for power companies and is the leading and famous technical school in Austria.

In the Austrian town of Amstetten the group visited ErtexSolartechnik GmbH and met with the marketing and sales represntative of the company engineer Daniel Gutlederer, who made a short presentation about the company's activity and showed all the production workshops and the product line. Mr Gutlederer discussed the opportunities and benefits of the company's products and the projects that are being planned and implemented in different parts of the world.

While visiting the company Kössler GmbH & Co KG, specialized in producing power plant turbines, the participants met with the company managers, toured the plant and attended a small presentation of Kössler GmbH & Co KG products. After the tour of the plant Kössler GmbH & Co KG managers invited the group to see the equipment produced at the plant installed at a small hydro power plant in a small village.

A visit of the Czec subsidiary of the international company АВВ in Brno was of great interest to the participants. Company respresentative Mr Marek Solchanski made a company presentation and discussed the main groups of elerctical equipment and devices produced by the company and showed the main production facilities.

On September 22-23, 2014 the group took part in a specialized workshop in Berlin prepared by the German Academy of Renewable Energy Sources and Environmental Technologies.

Established in September 2011, the German Academy is a young and rapidly developing company that continues aspiring to succeed in the area of education and professional training. The Academy is a member of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Berlin IHK). The Academy participate in the Program «Renewable Energy Sources - Made in Germany», funded by the Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology.

Specializing on the issues of the renewable energy sources, the Academy offers a wide range of programs in this area, as well as in the areas of energy efficiency and sustainable development, water resource management and environmental technologies. The Academy is convinced that the use of renewable energy sources, such as wind, hydro energy, wave, solar energy and bioenergy does not only enable us to protect the environment, but will also facilitate job creation, revenue generation and local economies development.

In the course of the workshop the group visited the environmental village that secures its own electricity and heat supply through generation from the renewable sources (biogas plant, solar panel pool, windmills), a number of enterprises producing windmills, robotics to produce solar panels and the smart house project of the Berlin University.