LONDON, UK, June 27, 2007.
Four solar power projects were among the international winners of the 2007 Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy.
Former U.S. vice president Al Gore was keynote speaker at the annual ceremony, and the winners were personally congratulated by The Prince of Wales, patron of the awards. The ceremony was held at the Royal Geographical Society in London.
“No-one can attend an event like the Ashden Awards and fail to be inspired,” said Gore. “We must find a path from an unsustainable present to a sustainable future.”
“What impresses me most about these projects is they truly are becoming the change that’s needed in the world,” he added. “These awards tell us how to illuminate the path to a sustainable future together. I hope that we can make it quickly.”
Among the winners was Sunlabob Renewable Energies, a solar PV company based in the capital of Laos that has succeeded in developing an innovative and commercially viable business model providing high-quality solar PV systems to the rural poor at an affordable price. Sunlabob has addressed the barrier of high up-front costs by renting solar PV at prices lower than the cost of kerosene, and uses high-quality components to ensure reliability and places a strong emphasis on customer support and training local entrepreneurs to maintain the systems.
To date, 1,870 solar systems, including 20 large ones for community use, and 500 solar lanterns have been rented to families in 73 villages providing electricity for lighting, entertainment and uses such as refrigeration. Sunlabob is installing 500 systems a year, and new investment this year will allow it to scale up to 5,000 systems soon.
In Ghana, the engineering company Deng has developed a viable and sustainable business model for the provision of solar home systems to rural areas where access to grid power is limited. Deng has set up a network of dealers to service remote areas and has set up a training centre for solar technicians to expand the business and ensure future sustainability of the scheme.
The centre has trained 120 people and is a significant driver for growth of the solar PV market in Ghana. Since 1998, Deng has supplied 1,000 fixed systems and 6,000 solar lanterns to communities across Ghana.
Zara Solar in Tanzania is a provider of solar PV in the northern regions of the African country, which has created a network of trained technicians to provide support to remote rural areas. Zara Solar and its sister company, Mona-Mwanza Electrical & Electronics, have sold 3,600 solar PV systems, benefiting 18,000 people and the company is exploring micro-finance packages which will allow customers to use the savings made from replacing kerosene, to pay back the cost of the system over time.
The fourth solar winner is Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha of Bangladesh, which has built a fleet of 88 flat-bottomed boats, all made with locally available materials, which sail through the shallow waters of the Chalanbeel to bring renewable energy supplies to 400,000 people. The company has provided villagers with 13,500 solar home systems.
“Our winners show how sustainable energy can improve health, education and livelihoods and at the same time reduce carbon emissions,” explains Sarah Butler-Sloss of the Ashden judging panel. “If these technologies were expanded and replicated on a large scale, they would play a significant role in helping us to tackle climate change and poverty. What we need now is the political will to scale-up and roll-out these solutions.”
The international awards are complemented by awards specific to UK companies, which include Ecotricity for its supply of wind power; and Wood Energy, a biomass heating businesses, which provides one third of the country's wood heat capacity and saves 12,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year through its large-scale and domestic boiler installations.
The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy reward outstanding and innovative projects in the UK and developing countries which tackle climate change and improve quality of life by providing renewable energy and energy efficiency at a local level. Top winners receive £30,000 and second prize winners receive £10,000 to £15,000 to expand their sustainable energy programs.
The Awards were founded in 2001 by the Ashden Trust, one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts and receives funding from other sources.
