Training of company abilities to integrate social aspects

The integration of new energy technologies in rural areas can only succeed if the local cultural and socio-economic conditions are considered from the beginning of a project. Companies need abilities to assess these conditions and integrate these results into their project work. Through a specially elaborated "train the trainer"-concept company members are trained with social knowledge which was put together by social scientist and companies in an European project. Relevant social characteristics concerned with the technical and financial sustainability are taught in order to create awareness of social dynamics and their consequences for rural electrification projects. Practical applications are enhanced with the training on analysis techniques, exploitation of social analysis results, communication and promotion skills. In this paper the details of the concept, training contents and applications are shown.