Husk Power Systems win int'l sustainable energy award
BS Reporter / Mumbai Jun 17, 2011, 14:35 IST
Shell Foundation's Husk Power Systems has won this year’s International Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy. It was awarded at an official ceremony in London on Thursday night.
Husk Power Systems (HPS) is a rural electrification company in Bihar which generates electricity through the gasification of rice husk, an abundant agricultural waste product found throughout India’s rice belt.
The company competed with seven other finalists from Africa, India and Pakistan for prize money of over £1.2 lakh (Rs 86 lakh) as Ashden continued its ten-year tradition of shining a spotlight on the most effective innovations in the provision of sustainable energy across the world.
In the last two years, HPS has been working with Shell Foundation to scale-up operations to bring affordable electricity to many more rural villages in Bihar.
Shell Foundation’s support has helped the fledgling company to refine its business model and apply entrepreneurial thinking to India’s huge energy deficit. This partnership has now resulted in the creation of over 60 gasification plants – providing over 1.5 lakh households with access to clean, reliable and affordable electricity.
HPS aim to serve more than 5000 villages, save 750,000 tons of CO2, create 7,000 local jobs and generate savings of $50 mn (Rs 225 crore) in cash for 5 million people (by replacing kerosene and diesel with renewable energy) by 2014.
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