Our hands-on methodology · Erasmus+ & European Solidarity Corps
Solar energy as an educational tool.
A small solar panel is one of the most honest teachers there is: point it at the sun and the meter moves. With a panel, a meter and a box of wires, a group builds, measures and improves a real energy system inside a single workshop — affordable, safe at low voltage, and powered by the one thing Athens never runs out of. This is how our method works, and how to bring it into a project or take part yourself.
Erasmus+ KA1 Youth 2023-1-EL02-KA150-YOU-000188397·
ESC Quality Label 2023-1-EL02-ESC50-QLA-000195138·
OID E10172681·
PIC 909448430
One panel. Every programme.
Instant, affordable, reusable — and it fits everywhere.
The reason the same activity works for a school class, a senior group, a vocational mobility or an international youth exchange comes down to a few simple numbers.
The method
From a pocket panel to a working energy system.
Participants run a complete, real energy cycle with their own hands — unbox, wire, measure, tilt, log, improve — and where it fits, cost and pitch a solar-powered build. Because feedback is instant, a group closes several full build–measure–improve loops inside a single workshop or mobility, then keeps the data and defends the conclusions. It is learning by doing, with a result you can switch on.
A classic of hands-on STEM teaching we put to work — not one we invented. Small-scale solar is used in classrooms worldwide; our contribution is making it travel across the Erasmus+ fields.
Why a panel teaches so much
A near-perfect learning tool, in four parts.
Tilt the panel and the number moves. Cause and effect land instantly — no waiting, no abstraction, and every hypothesis gets tested on the spot.
A pocket-size panel and a basic multimeter work on a windowsill, a balcony or a schoolyard — no lab, no licence, and Greece supplies the sunshine.
The phone charging at the end of the table runs on electricity the team made themselves. A lesson becomes a working product, and ownership follows.
Physics, maths and data, geography and the sun’s path, economics, design and sustainability — one activity feeds them all, perfect for mixed-ability groups.
The skills participants can gain
Mapped to the EU competence frameworks evaluators actually use.
This is what makes solar fundable, not just fun: a single project develops competences across the frameworks behind the whole Erasmus+ agenda — with the green transition at the very top of the priority list.
Energy literacy you can hold: generate, measure and value clean electricity, then translate watt-hours into carbon and cost. Sustainability you act out, not just read about.
Cost a solar build, find who actually needs it — a charging station, a lantern, a market stall — and pitch it. Real business thinking on a €30 budget, not a promise of income.
Log volts, amps and watt-hours; chart a day’s sun curve in a spreadsheet or dashboard; automate a reading with a simple sensor. Measurement is the heart of the method.
Troubleshooting a circuit that refuses to work builds patience, persistence and a growth mindset; building in small teams builds collaboration and communication.
Outcomes describe what participants can gain, and depend on how the activity is run. EVEC hosts and facilitates as a partner NGO — activities lead to a certificate of participation / Youthpass-style recognition of non-formal learning, not a formal qualification, and are not electrician or installer training. All activities use safe, low-voltage educational kits. Energy and climate figures discussed in workshops reflect external research, not EVEC findings.
What we offer
A blueprint we shape around your group.
From first watt to final pitch
A hosted solar week in Athens can run as a simple arc: day one, unbox the kits and take the first honest measurement; days two and three, run the experiments and build the dataset; day four, turn panels, wires and imagination into something useful; day five, cost it, name it and pitch it. This is a blueprint, not a fixed programme — the length, language and level flex to fit your group, your field and your project design.
For institutions & partners
Bring the method into an Erasmus+ project.
You bring the learners and the theme; we bring hosting in Athens and the build-and-measure method. Here are example projects across the Erasmus+ fields to spark ideas — when one fits, start the conversation through our Erasmus+ hub.
Power in Our Hands
Mixed teams from two countries build solar chargers and lanterns, then run a public energy-awareness pop-up in Athens.
Same sun, different sky
Partner schools at different latitudes run the same panel protocol, share the data and co-create an open cross-curricular unit.
Solar for the household
Adult and senior learners demystify home energy — read a bill, measure real appliances, size a balcony panel — during a week in Athens.
Green-jobs taster bench
An incoming VET group works a safe low-voltage bench — assembly, measurement protocol, fault-finding — as an orientation to clean-energy careers.
Solar pit lane
A sun-powered charging station for drone-sport events — teams race on batteries they charged themselves and count every watt-hour.
Demonstration site
EVEC as your consortium’s non-research delivery partner — turning clean-energy research into hands-on Athens demonstration and citizen engagement.
For people
Or get your own hands on the panels.
Not an organisation? You can still work with solar directly — as an intern, a local or online volunteer, or a fully EU-funded ESC volunteer. Every route ends with a certificate of participation and a reference. Find the one that fits through our Get Involved hub.
Measure & Teach
Run the solar bench, keep the measurement logs honest, and turn each build into workshops for Athens youth — leaving with a portfolio.
The Athens build-crew
Help assemble kits, test builds and co-run workshop sessions. No experience needed — curiosity and a free afternoon are enough.
Power it from anywhere
No sun required on your side: build measurement templates, how-to guides, translations and social content from wherever you are.
An ESC year in Athens
2–12 EU-funded months helping run our hands-on learning workshops — accommodation, food, ~€420/mo, travel, insurance and a mentor covered.
The data side
Four experiments any group can run.
Every experiment produces numbers worth arguing about — and that is what turns a demo into science, and a workshop into competence.
Chase the sun
Measure output at five tilt angles across the day and find the best one — then explain why the answer keeps moving.
The shade tax
Cover one cell, then a corner, then half the panel — and discover why shading costs far more output than it seems it should.
Series vs parallel
Wire two small panels both ways, predict the numbers first, then test — volts, amps and the trade-off between them.
A day in the sun
Log a full day of readings into a shared sheet, chart the curve, and compare it with a cloudy day — or with a partner group abroad.
Let’s build something
Three doors into a solar project.
Co-design a funded Erasmus+ project, take part yourself, or bring EVEC into a Horizon Europe consortium. Pick your door — each page has the full details and the way to reach us.
For organisations
Erasmus+ partnerships
Co-design a funded project in Youth, School, Adult, VET or Sport, with EVEC as your Athens host and coordinator.
Explore Erasmus+ →
For individuals
Get Involved
Join hands-on as an intern, a local or online volunteer, or a fully funded ESC volunteer.
Find your way in →
For research consortia
Horizon Europe
Add EVEC as your non-research dissemination, communication and engagement partner on a Horizon Europe proposal.
Partner on Horizon →
Keep exploring
Three ways forward
Erasmus+ partnerships
Every Key Action and field we partner on — start a project with us.
Go to the hub →
Get Involved
Internship, volunteering or a funded ESC placement — find your way in.
Go to the hub →
Mycelium as an educational tool
Another hands-on tool from the same family — grow, observe, learn.
See the method →
