Kenya, Zambia energy projects win Ashden awards

NAIROBI, KENYA: Two projects in Kenya and Zambia are among this year’s winners in the Ashden sustainable energy awards.

Sistema.bio have won the awards for clean cooking in association with the clean cooking alliance.

Sistema.bio has created an innovative, affordable biogas system that turns animal waste into the cleanest of cooking fuels and produces a planet-friendly super fertiliser – boosting productivity while lowering carbon emissions.

The product’s simple, modular design makes it easy to add more capacity if needed, and the option to pay in installments makes it available to more farmers. Buyers in Latin America, Africa and Asia no longer have to cook using expensive and polluting wood fuel or fossil fuels. They save money and our forests and climate are protected.

“The outstanding organisations that make up our 2019 roster can give us all hope: we have the solutions to the climate emergency, solutions that are working already and just need scaling even further. In particular, financial innovation and commitment must be an integral part of ensuring these solutions are sustainable – and that is just what our 2019 winner is showcasing. Others should come and steal their model and their ideas with pride,” said Ashden CEO, Harriet Lamb.

On the other side the Renewable Energy Efficiency Programme (REEEP), funded by the Beyond the Grid Fund Zambia (BGFZ) is an ambitious multi-year program, increasing energy access, improving lives and catalysing economic activity in rural and peri-urban areas.

The BGFZ aims to bring modern energy services to at least 167,000 households – translating to one million Zambians – by 2021. They have won the 2019 Ashden Award for Innovative Finance, supported by Citi.

The winners will be presented with their awards at a prestigious ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society in London on Wednesday 3 July. They join more than 215 enterprises that have won an Ashden Award since they were founded in 2001.