Solar Energy and Jatropha: Sustainability persuades Harvard Jury
Energiebau Solarstromsysteme and InWEnt to receive international environmental award on May 8
The German solar energy pioneer Energiebau Solarstromsysteme GmbH and InWEnt - Capacity Building International will be awarded the Roy Family Award by Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., USA, on May 8, 2007.
The Director of the UN Environmental Programme, UNEP, Achim Steiner, will give the keynote presentation titled "Earth out of balance - Rethinking global environmental security".
In awarding the prize, the jury is recognising a concept developed by InWEnt and Energiebau, which opens up new means of decentralised power supply in Africa's rural regions.
A solar power system is coupled with a pure plant oil gen set. The oil for running the gen set is obtained locally by extracting the oil from the inedible nuts of the jatropha plant, using very simple methods.
Since 2003, Energiebau and InWEnt have been working successfully together on implementing this concept. Its effectiveness in practice has been put to the test in five locations to date, in Ghana, Mali and Tanzania.
UNEP too praises the project concept and is interested in expanding it to other African countries.
The Roy Family Award is awarded every two years to outstanding Public Private Partnerships.
InWEnt and Energiebau beat more than 30 international competitors to scoop the prize.
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