GWR
11-07-07, 10:50 AM
Sunlabob wins Ashden Award
Sunlabob Renewable Energy Company of Laos has been awarded the prestigious “Ashden Award for sustainable energy”, the so-called ‘Green Oscar'.
The managing director of Sunlabob Rural Energy Ltd, Mr Andy Schroeter, was invited to London last week and has been personally congratulated by the former Vice President of the United States, Mr Al Gore, and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.
The Ashden Award is a UK-based foundation that awards outstanding solutions for sustainable energy. This year five first prizes were awarded. Among many entries Sunlabob received the first prize for Light and Power, sponsored by Climate Care in the UK .
Last month, the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy had selected 10 renewable energy pioneers from across the globe to enter the final stage of the competition. Sunlabob Renewable Energy Company of Laos was one of the finalists selected for the awards in London , said Mr Schroeter.
The company from the Lao PDR competed with contenders from Bangladesh , China , Ghana , India , Nepal , Peru , the Philippines and Tanzania , for five awards and more than 200,000 pounds in prize money. But the winner would receive 581 million kip, he said.
Sunlabob had submitted the Solar Lamp solution: whereby lamps with accumulators and charging electronics are distributed to households who each have to pay a deposit for the lamp. The deposit is refunded when they bring back the lamp.
The lamps will burn for a total duration of 15 hours, after which they will switch off. The households then go to a central recharging station that is operated by a village technician as a small enterprise.
There they can exchange the spent lamp for a recharged one and only pay a small recharging fee. The deposit transfers to the recharged lamp,which they take home. The recharging fees from all the lamps pay for the whole backup system, Mr Schroeter said.
There is a large, state-of-the-art solar array in the village that acts as a recharging station which is rented out by the village technician from Sunlabob. The rent covers all costs including authorisations, servicing and replacements.
The test-runs and calculations show that the recharging fees the households pay for regular lighting at home is comparable to or even cheaper than what they spend for kerosene in the lamps they presently use, Mr. Saleumphon Vongsakhamphui, director of Sunlabob stated.
“We are very proud to be able to have achieved this without any direct subsidies, and we are pleased that this solution has been developed in the field in Laos and is now internationally recognised as a breakthrough for photovoltaics in remote rural areas anywhere on the planet,” Mr Saleumphon said.
Mr Saleumphon said he has personally been directly involved in rural electrification through solar photovoltaics in more than 25 countries.
The Sunlabob project is easily the one that stands out as the best in rural electricity generation, rural business development and lifestyle improvement for rural dwellers and, most remarkably, has done so with no support from the government and with the apparently achievable goal of full cost recovery.
An important criterion for the Ashden Awards was the potential for a large impact. Although the operations in Sunlabob require the development of a local skill base and the establishment of small enterprises to run the franchises, it was estimated by the jury that these obstacles can be surmounted.
Now, after the initial publicity of the award, Sunlabob is already being approached by companies and organisations from SE-Asia, East Africa, and South America to explore how to get similar efforts operating in their regions, Mr Saleumphon said.
A very interesting new aspect emerged from this solution because it directly replaces kerosene with electricity in a way that is easily calculated. For this reason, Sunlabob has now been approached by Carbon Trading organisations. This is also one of the reasons that Climate Care sponsored the prize for the solution.
This is a very interesting development and Sunlabob intends to explore it to its fullest potential. Sunlabob is proud that something developed in Lao field conditions now has a chance to make a worldwide impact in a truly crucial field of work, Mr Saleumphon said.
Sunlabob will use the prize money of the Ashden Award to purchase further charging stations and solar lamps for villages in Laos . The demand is very high for them, Mr Saleumphon said.
By Khonesavanh Latsaphao
(Latest Update July 11, 2007)
http://www.vientianetimes.org.la/FreeContent/FreeContent_sun.htm
Sunlabob's informative site:
http://www.sunlabob.com/
Ashden Awards webpage on Sunlabob:
http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_sunlabob
Sunlabob Renewable Energy Company of Laos has been awarded the prestigious “Ashden Award for sustainable energy”, the so-called ‘Green Oscar'.
The managing director of Sunlabob Rural Energy Ltd, Mr Andy Schroeter, was invited to London last week and has been personally congratulated by the former Vice President of the United States, Mr Al Gore, and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.
The Ashden Award is a UK-based foundation that awards outstanding solutions for sustainable energy. This year five first prizes were awarded. Among many entries Sunlabob received the first prize for Light and Power, sponsored by Climate Care in the UK .
Last month, the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy had selected 10 renewable energy pioneers from across the globe to enter the final stage of the competition. Sunlabob Renewable Energy Company of Laos was one of the finalists selected for the awards in London , said Mr Schroeter.
The company from the Lao PDR competed with contenders from Bangladesh , China , Ghana , India , Nepal , Peru , the Philippines and Tanzania , for five awards and more than 200,000 pounds in prize money. But the winner would receive 581 million kip, he said.
Sunlabob had submitted the Solar Lamp solution: whereby lamps with accumulators and charging electronics are distributed to households who each have to pay a deposit for the lamp. The deposit is refunded when they bring back the lamp.
The lamps will burn for a total duration of 15 hours, after which they will switch off. The households then go to a central recharging station that is operated by a village technician as a small enterprise.
There they can exchange the spent lamp for a recharged one and only pay a small recharging fee. The deposit transfers to the recharged lamp,which they take home. The recharging fees from all the lamps pay for the whole backup system, Mr Schroeter said.
There is a large, state-of-the-art solar array in the village that acts as a recharging station which is rented out by the village technician from Sunlabob. The rent covers all costs including authorisations, servicing and replacements.
The test-runs and calculations show that the recharging fees the households pay for regular lighting at home is comparable to or even cheaper than what they spend for kerosene in the lamps they presently use, Mr. Saleumphon Vongsakhamphui, director of Sunlabob stated.
“We are very proud to be able to have achieved this without any direct subsidies, and we are pleased that this solution has been developed in the field in Laos and is now internationally recognised as a breakthrough for photovoltaics in remote rural areas anywhere on the planet,” Mr Saleumphon said.
Mr Saleumphon said he has personally been directly involved in rural electrification through solar photovoltaics in more than 25 countries.
The Sunlabob project is easily the one that stands out as the best in rural electricity generation, rural business development and lifestyle improvement for rural dwellers and, most remarkably, has done so with no support from the government and with the apparently achievable goal of full cost recovery.
An important criterion for the Ashden Awards was the potential for a large impact. Although the operations in Sunlabob require the development of a local skill base and the establishment of small enterprises to run the franchises, it was estimated by the jury that these obstacles can be surmounted.
Now, after the initial publicity of the award, Sunlabob is already being approached by companies and organisations from SE-Asia, East Africa, and South America to explore how to get similar efforts operating in their regions, Mr Saleumphon said.
A very interesting new aspect emerged from this solution because it directly replaces kerosene with electricity in a way that is easily calculated. For this reason, Sunlabob has now been approached by Carbon Trading organisations. This is also one of the reasons that Climate Care sponsored the prize for the solution.
This is a very interesting development and Sunlabob intends to explore it to its fullest potential. Sunlabob is proud that something developed in Lao field conditions now has a chance to make a worldwide impact in a truly crucial field of work, Mr Saleumphon said.
Sunlabob will use the prize money of the Ashden Award to purchase further charging stations and solar lamps for villages in Laos . The demand is very high for them, Mr Saleumphon said.
By Khonesavanh Latsaphao
(Latest Update July 11, 2007)
http://www.vientianetimes.org.la/FreeContent/FreeContent_sun.htm
Sunlabob's informative site:
http://www.sunlabob.com/
Ashden Awards webpage on Sunlabob:
http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_sunlabob