As the worldwide appetite for energy grows, so does the demand for power experts able build local capacity as well as smart grids anywhere from Afghanistan to Zambia.

Foreign assistance for the power sector increased in the past decade, after years of decline, as international donors began to address climate change and rediscovered the effect of reliable energy supply on international development. Between 2003 and 2008, bilateral aid increased at an average rate of 16 percent per year, approaching annual funding peaks in the early ’80s of more than $7 billion, adjusted to inflation, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The World Bank, U.S. Agency for International Development and other donors are increasingly focused not just on infrastructure projects, but on helping partners in the developing world build capacity and improve energy policies.

General Electric is among the companies guiding donors and their implementing partners toward successful solutions on how to “go green” and maximize efficiency. The company, a leading supplier of power generation and energy delivery technologies, offers several “experiences” – courses on a variety of topics, from energy economics and power systems planning to protective relaying and solar power.

These courses address issues that are of growing importance to governments around the world, said Martin Shalhoub, GE Energy’s commercial leader who manages the training program. Interest has picked up in recent years among aid officials, he noted.

Among the more than 1,800 engineers from 180 companies and 57 countries who have graduated from GE’s training program are staff of Winrock International, which signed a USAID-funded deal with Pakistan last year to build capacity within the country’s power sector.

The courses combine hands-on experience and site visits to GE’s Energy Learning Center with discussions about fundamental power theories to help keep energy experts – whether from the public or private sector – in the loop on the latest energy innovations.

“What’s unique about our program is that it’s not just lecture, we incorporate site visits to independent system operator power plants,” Shalhoub said. “We leverage some facilities and research centers we have at GE. People will get to actually perform some of the things that we teach them.”

GE offers the course in different formats, including four-and-a-half month programs, four-week specialized programs at the Energy Learning Center in Schenectady, New York, and short courses spanning two to four days.

The company is banking on the hands-on instruction by industry leaders and consultants who, Shalhoub said, “practice what they preach day in day out and are highly recognized in the industry.”

The same can be said about GE, of course, which is promising to help beyond the coursework.

“We build relationships with these people that span decades,” Shalhoub said. “They know that if they ever have a problem and need a particular solution, GE is here for them - whether it’s consulting work, whether it’s buying a product or service, they trust us. They can leverage our contacts.”

Find out more about GE Energy’s power systems and energy courses.