Solar Energy Project Wins $50k Ashden Prize

Renewables: Solar Energy Project Wins $50k Ashden Prize

Jun 25 - Global Information Network

It may be a long time before people think of renewable energy projects as more than symbolic projects that rarely make a substantial contribution.

Hemant Lamba thought so too, but then he did his bit to change that. Lamba won the award for enterprise among the four Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy, dubbed the 'Green Oscars'. The awards were set up by the Ashden Trust of the Sainsbury's trusts in Britain in 2001. Each award comes with $50,000 towards improving the project. The other three prizes are for light, food and climate care.

"These are the guys who make solar happen," said the citation for Lamba. He had been involved in setting up solar energy projects in the little town Auroville in the south of India. But it is the multiplication he applied that won him the award.

Lamba and members of his team Aurore have delivered renewable energy, mainly solar projects across 12 states in India. He has brought government, banks, non-governmental organisations and manufacturers together to deliver products that are relatively effective and affordable. With that 250 local people have been trained in maintaining the power supply through renewables.

The electricity from these installations is supplying 80,000 people. Still small, but he says the multiplication has begun.

"We have been helped by government subsidies but the big challenge ahead is to make solar generation of power competitive on its own terms," Lamba told IPS. "We are now working to make these projects more popular and to attract private enterprises to set up new networks and franchises. We are trying to link all these elements."

Miraj Khan from the Aga Khan foundation won the award for bringing light to 17,000 homes scattered across the remote Hindu Kush mountains of Pakistan. The project simply uses the power of water rushing down mountain sides to generate electricity.

Little channels move turbines and join the mainstream again. Meanwhile people have set aside generations of reliance on wood and kerosene. Villagers here now flick TV channels and surf the net on power drawn from nearby streams.

"When we say power we mean 220 volt power supply that is steady," Khan told IPS. "I have been working in this area for the last 20 years and I have seen these changes, and even I can't believe it sometimes. And now we need to do nothing in these places, because we have trained local people to manage these systems."

The award in the food category went to Maisoon Zamir of the Escorts Foundation in Pakistan for supplying women in the Changa Manga forest with a simple stove that has changed the lives of women in this area. The stove cuts the need for fuel wood by 50 percent, and is easy to construct and cost-effective. About 12,000 of these have been installed in 56 villages in the area. The stove has had a take up rate of about 70 percent.

The award for climate care was given to Dr Govardhan Rathore of the Prakratik Society for providing villagers around the Ranthambore tiger reserve in Rajasthan in India with biogas as substitute for firewood for cooking.

Other projects that got runner-up awards have been similar efforts. A project from Kenya won a runner-up award for generating power from water. A project from Guatemala won an award for developing a smoke-free stove, and one from India won an award for upgrading thousands of watermills in the Himalayan region to generate electricity.

"We have had very strong projects from India and Pakistan," chairman of the awards Sarah Butler-Sloss told IPS. The awards are being held to raise awareness about renewable energy, and this year brought more than 100 entries compared to about 75 last year, she said.

Also, the entries show that the projects are becoming bigger and more successful. "There is a phenomenal improvement," said Butler- Sloss. "The projects are getting stronger and stronger, and we are seeing many that are very well thought through."

That is indicated also by the record of some prize winners of last year. A solar energy project in Sagar islands around Bengal in India has moved on to a sophisticated distribution and billing system. The distribution grid is being expanded as a result.

Prince Charles held a separate ceremony later to congratulate the winners.

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