The ruling principle of the Plataforma Solar de Almería training program is the creation of a generation of young researchers who can contribute to the deployment of solar thermal energy applications. Through this program, about thirty students of different nationalities are admitted each year so that we can transmit the knowledge of solar thermal technology accumulated at the PSA in its almost thirty years of experience to new generations of university graduates.

The main features of this training program are:

• Management of the Ph.D. fellowship program in association with the annual agreement with the University of Almería (UAL)
• Management of traineeship grants associated with an annual agreement with the UAL Mediterranean Foundation.
• European funded ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ grants, for students from other countries, mainly German.
• Management of miscellaneous specific educational cooperation agreements with other entities for sending students to the PSA.

Founding in 2004 of the virtual European solar laboratory ‘SolLAB’, has opened new possibilities for scientific development of researchers in training at the PSA. One of the first joint activities initiated by SolLAB was an annual seminar for Ph.D. students from the four different institutions. From September 10th-12th, 2008, thirty Ph.D. students attended the seminar organized by the PSA.

National Access Activities

In 2005, the National Plan for R&D started a new line of activity for promoting Spain’s Unique Large Science and Technology Infrastructures (ICTS). This line, managed by the Ministry of Science and Education’s General Directorate for Science and Technology Policy, annually announces the ICTS programs, consisting of two clearly differentiated sections, one called ‘Aid for Improvement’ and the other ‘Offers for Access’. The offer for access is designed to optimize the use of ICTS by paying for access by researchers from other institutions.

This access is given based on annual public announcements that must be issued by the PSA. An ‘External Experts Committee’ then evaluates the proposals received for their scientific quality and assigns ‘user time’ to those selected.

The PSA announcements in this national access and improvement program had a very successful response in 2005, 2006 and 2007, and it is currently offering access for 2009.

In 2009, 14 researchers benefited from this program, enjoying a total of 44 weeks of free access to the various PSA test facilities.