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Ashden Awards honour exemplary energy initiatives
A summer highlight for the renewable energy world is the Ashden Awards week, when winners of this prestigious award for sustainable energy solutions travel to London for the prize giving ceremony and a series of seminars and training sessions.
The quality of the prize winners is always very high, and this year was no exception, employing technologies ranging from solar to briquette production. GVEP International has worked in close collaboration with the Ashden Awards since October 2007, with our CEO, Sarah Adams, sitting on the judging panel. This year, our regional team members accompanied Ashden Award judges in India, Sri Lanka and Uganda and ongoing support will be provided.
GVEP International supported three winners, the International Development Enterprises India (IDEI), Saran Renewable Energy (SRE) and Kampala Jellitone Suppliers Ltd (KJS) in the presentation of their work, including market and policy issues to a well attended seminar organised by the Ashden Awards and DFID, UK titled "Scaling Up Low Carbon Energy".
Please click on the organisation's names to view their presentation:
- International Development Enterprises India: Pedaling out of poverty
- Saran Renewable Energy : Replacing diesel generators with biomass gasification systems
- Kampala Jellitone Suppliers Ltd : Agricultural residues fuel industries and institutions
All three organisations have high expectations to reach their plans to scale out as well as scale up, and continue to play important roles in the international transfer of technology, particularly in the case of IDEI’s treadle pumps. Despite successes, classic barriers such as lack of access to financing for their low carbon initiatives, low R&D and lack of appropriate policy instruments continue to challenge them. Interactions with private and public sectors are ongoing and it is expected that the Awards will help raise their profile and change the direction of low carbon technologies to be rapidly upscaled. GVEP International will continue to work with the Awards to support all these initiatives regionally.
The grand winner for the 2009 International Awards was Shengzhou stove manufacturers, based in China. To download information, videos and photographs about the Shengzhou and all the other winners, please click here.
