Off Grid Electric Wins Top International Renewable Energy and Sustainability Prize

By Megan Cowley
Arusha — Tan­za­nia, Jan­u­ary 18, 2016 – Off Grid Elec­tric, a Tan­za­nia-based social enter­prise, has been award­ed the Zayed Future Ener­gy Prize in the Small and Medi­um Enter­prise cat­e­go­ry dur­ing an awards cer­e­mo­ny today in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Now in its eighth edi­tion, the UAE’s inter­na­tion­al prize recog­nis­es pio­neers in the fields of renew­able ener­gy and sustainability.

Nine win­ners across five cat­e­gories, includ­ing Dr. Gro Harlem Brundt­land who accept­ed the Life­time Achieve­ment award for her com­mit­ment to sus­tain­abil­i­ty and sus­tain­able devel­op­ment, received awards pre­sent­ed by His High­ness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Com­man­der of the UAE Armed Forces. Unit­ed Nations Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al Ban Ki-moon, heads of state and dig­ni­taries from across the world attend­ed the awards cer­e­mo­ny, tak­ing place dur­ing Abu Dhabi Sus­tain­abil­i­ty Week, the largest gath­er­ing on sus­tain­abil­i­ty in the Mid­dle East.

Dr Naw­al Al-Hosany, Direc­tor of the Zayed Future Ener­gy Prize, said: “We are delight­ed to wel­come Off Grid Elec­tric to our grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of win­ners. Their efforts to give those indi­vid­u­als with­out, access to elec­tric­i­ty is to be wel­comed and aids the inter­na­tion­al community’s dri­ve towards a future where safe and sus­tain­able access to ener­gy is avail­able to all.”

The Zayed Future Ener­gy Prize recog­nised Off Grid Elec­tric for pro­vid­ing at least 45,000 homes in Tan­za­nia with access to clean elec­tric­i­ty at low­er cost than harm­ful and envi­ron­men­tal­ly dam­ag­ing kerosene or diesel alter­na­tives. Around 225,000 peo­ple ben­e­fit from Off Grid Electric’s solar home sys­tems, which cus­tomers pay for through mobile payment.

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