Abu Dhabi: A prestigious prize designed to promote clean energy use is also spreading the legacy of the UAE’s founding father and his passion for environmental conservation among schoolchildren and youth across the world.
The Zayed Future Energy Prize, which is awarded annually as part of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, has so far granted about $1.4 million (Dh5.14 million) to 14 schools for projects that promote clean energy use. These grants have facilitated the creation of a number of clean energy research and training programmes, and at least three of them have been named after the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. These far-reaching initiatives therefore extend Shaikh Zayed’s vision and aim to create a generation of individuals focused on energy conservation.
“At the heart of the Zayed Future Energy Prize is the principle that education is critical in improving energy access, energy conservation and energy security,” Dr Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and Director General of the Prize, had announced earlier.
One of the projects is the Zayed Solar Academy and the Zayed Energy and Ecology Centre at Nkhata Bay, a poor rural area in Malawi. The centres will be built with a grant of $100,000 (Dh367,000) payable since 2014, and they will facilitate the training of students as rural solar engineers. In addition, the practical applications of solar energy will also be demonstrated to the local community, of which only about one per cent has access to electricity at present.
The Nkhata Bay School Authority told Gulf News that around 133 students applied for the Academy’s first solar installation course in the summer of 2014. The 25 brightest applicants, including four women, then entered the inaugural six-month programme following assessment.
Over in the States, another 2014 winner, the Bronx Design and Construction Academy, hopes to establish the Zayed Energy Energy Environment Research Centre. The Centre, which is currently in its feasibility study phase, will train schoolchildren to design and implement sustainable solutions to environmental issues.
“Shaikh Zayed [displayed] visionary leadership in promoting innovative sustainability practices. Our school similarly aims to ensure that pupils graduate with these values, and so it is our privilege to uphold the vision by naming our project after the late UAE leader,” the Academy said.
A corporate winner of the Future Energy Prize also announced plans to use its grant for clean energy training.
M-Kopa, a pay-as-you-go energy provider in Nairobi, won the $1.5 million (Dh5.51 million) prize in the small and medium enterprise category in 2015. The company will use the grant to establish an internal training and development facility, named The Zayed Centre.
“With the recognition and backing of the Prize, we will continue to develop our exceptional team in order to reach millions [with our off-grid energy services]. [And] to recognise the impact that the Prize will have on developing M-Kopa’s talent in clean energy, we will be naming our Nairobi training facility, the Zayed Centre,” said Jesse Moore, co-founder and managing director of M-Kopa.
