ME SOLShare wins Renewable Transformation Challenge 2017
In 2017, Elsevier and the International Solar Energy Society ISES were pleased to announce ME SOLShare as the winner of the first-ever Renewable Transformation Challenge!
On behalf of ME SOLShare, Dr. Sebastian Groh won the award for the project The Energiewende 3.0 - Smart P2P Solar Grids. In short, a SOLshare grid is created when rural households or SMEs agree on setting up a “swarm network” that consists of existing and new solar home systems (SHSs) and storage devices and enables the interconnection of larger loads. ME SOLshare provides a peer-to-peer solar energy trading platform empowering individuals and SMEs to become solar entrepreneurs offering pay-as-you-go and cash-in-as-you-go electricity solutions to low-income households. ME SOLshare therefore has the potential to play a crucial role in supporting rural development and providing a means of direct income to rural communities.
The winner explained “ME SOLshare plans to use the Renewable Transformation Challenge award fund to kick-start a new pilot project to support clean energy transportation. By upgrading the existing SOLshare swarm grids to create a multiplier effect, SOLshare will offer free solar charging for the over 800,000 battery rickshaw drivers of rural Bangladesh. The equivalent of the charging cost will be credited to the SHS owners in the SOLshare grids who will jointly provide the charging and receive the financial return.”
Dr. Groh, on behalf of ME SOLshare, will receive a monetary prize of €20,000, one ISES Gold membership, and one free registration to the Solar World Congress 2017 in Abu Dhabi where he was presented with the Award during the conference dinner on 1 November 2017.
About the Renewable Transformation Challenge
The Renewable Transformation Challenge, launched in 2017, aims to honor and showcase outstanding work that actively supports the transformation to a world powered by renewable energy and has potential to widen access to energy, particularly in developing countries. The challenge was open to individuals and organizations in both not-for-profit and commercial sectors worldwide.
In this first year of the challenge, more than 200 entries were received which were scored in terms of applicability, impact, sustainability and scalability in two stages: first by the Juror Panel, and then by the Elsevier-ISES Awards Committee who selected the final winner from the ten shortlisted candidates.