Ashden Awards - Winning renewable energy pioneers from Bangladesh, China, India, Laos and Tanzania

Contributed by James Robinson
22 June 2007

The winners of the 2007 Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy were announced following an awards ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society in London addressed by former US Vice President Al Gore.

London - 21 June 2007

Five international awards were given in recognition of the way in which sustainable energy has been used to improve access to Light and Power, to Food, to Education and Welfare, to promote Enterprise and to address the challenges of lack of access to essential energy resources in Africa.

This year, for the first time, an Outstanding Achievement Award was awarded to a past winner whose work has accelerated and made a significant contribution to the spread of sustainable energy solutions since winning an Ashden Award.

4 UK awards were also awarded to pioneering approaches to sustainable energy use across the UK.

Sarah Butler-Sloss, Executive Chair and chair of the judging panel said: "Our winners show how sustainable energy can improve health, education and livelihoods and at the same time reduce carbon emissions. 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"

His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, Patron of the Ashden Awards personally congratulated all the winners in a separate private ceremony. A Clarence House spokesperson said of the meeting:

"The Prince of Wales was highly impressed by the diverse range of outstanding sustainable energy solutions from the UK and across the globe. His Royal Highness was particularly encouraged by the fact that these pioneering initiatives offer practical, simple and economical solutions that others can easily follow"

International winners:

CHINA: Beijing Shenzhou Daxu Bio-energy Technology Company Ltd (Daxu) wins the Enterprise Award (£30,000) for developing and marketing an innovative stove design that replaces coal by burning widely available crop waste as well as burning wood much more efficiently.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_daxu

INDIA: BIOTECH wins the Food Security Award (£30,000) for developing and installing biogas plants in Kerala that use food waste which is often left out in the streets to rot, to generate gas for cooking.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_biotech

LAOS: Sunlabob Renewable Energies Ltd wins the Light and Power Award (£30,000) for developing an innovative and commercially viable business model which provides high quality solar PV systems to the rural poor at a price they can afford.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_sunlabob

BANGLADESH: Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha wins the Education and Welfare Award (£30,000)
for building up a fleet of 88 boats that use solar energy to bring education, training and renewable energy supplies to over 400,000 people living in the remote Chalanbeel region of Bangladesh.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_shidhulai

TANZANIA: Zara Solar Ltd. wins the Africa Award (£30,000) for providing high-quality, reliable solar-home-systems at affordable prices to communities lacking access to a reliable source of energy.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_zara

INDIA: Harish Hande from SELCO wins the Outstanding Achievement Award (£15,000) for, in the words of the judges, "the way in which this visionary individual has demonstrated beyond doubt that it is possible to run a renewable energy business which is both a striking commercial success, and which lifts people out of poverty, too." SELCO is a private business committed to providing the highest quality solar energy services to poor people on financial terms they can afford.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary_selco

International second prize winners


NEPAL: Centre for Rural Technology, Nepal takes second prize for the Enterprise Award (£10,000) for upgrading over 2,400 traditional water mills in the Himalayas of Nepal and so improving livelihoods for millers and mill-users and stemming the rise in diesel mills.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_crt

INDIA: SKG Sangha takes second prize for the Food Security Award (£10,000) for improving the lives of rural communities in Karnataka, South India by supplying them with both dung based biogas plants for cooking and a specially designed unit that turns the slurry from the biogas plant into high quality fertiliser.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_skg

PERU: Practical Action/ITDG takes second prize for the Education and Welfare Award (£10,000) for transforming the lives of over 30,000 people living in remote villages in the Andes by providing them with electricity generated by micro-hydro plants.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_practicalaction

PHILIPPINES: Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation Inc. takes second prize for the Education and Welfare Award (£10,000) for developing a ram pump design built to last at least twenty years and for bringing clean water to over 15,000 people through the installation of these ram pumps in 68 hillside villages in the Philippines.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_aid

GHANA: Deng Ltd takes second prize for the African Award (£10,000) for developing a viable and sustainable business for the provision of solar-home-systems to rural areas where access to grid supply is limited.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_deng

The Ashden Awards Business Support and Dissemination Programme sponsored by British Gas was also launched at tonights ceremony.This provides award winners with advice or training in business and human resource development as well as a range of other support to help them reach their full potential.

Notes to editors


For further information, interviews contact Maya Vaughan Tel. 020 7263 2551 or Mobile: 07726926227 E: maya.vaughan@...

Download photos of the Award ceremony

Download photos of the international projects

The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy - now in its 7th year - exists to both highlight and reward exemplary and successful examples of sustainable energy use both in the UK and the developing world.

The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy were created in 2001 by the Ashden Trust. The 2006 Awards are funded by nine Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts along with the John Ellerman Foundation, Esmee Fairbairn Charitable Trust and Climate Care.
Categories: Ashden Awards