Sierra Leone’s Kandeh Yumkella of the Sustainable Energy For All Initiative (SE4All), South Africa’s City Power, George Airport and Akon Lighting are some of the winners in this year’s African Utility Week Industry awards held in Cape Town, South Africa.
According to a statement issued by Spintelligent, a Cape Town-based trade exhibition and conference organiser, the winners of the prestigious industry awards in 11 different categories were announced at the gala dinner May 18, 2016 during the annual African Utility Week and Clean Power Africa.
It said more than 5000 power and water professionals gathered in Cape Town for the event which ended in May 19, 2016.
The statement said the UN under-Secretary-General and former special representative of the Secretary-General and CEO of SE4All, Mr Kandeh Yumkella ,won the Lifetime Achievement Award.
It said also informed that City Power won the award for Power Utility of the Year, particularly in recognition of the utility’s flagship solar water heating programme.
It said approximately 70,000 low income households around Johannesburg, South Africa were fitted with solar water geysers over a period of three years under this programme.
In the clean energy project of the year category, the organisers declared the Akon Lighting Africa Initiative (ALAI) as the winner.
It explained that the project is implementing an innovative solar-powered solution that is providing African villages with access to a clean and affordable source of electricity.
“Since launching, the group has operations in 15 nations, including Guinea Conakry, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Benin and Sierra Leone and is covering over 480 communities.”
In their response, Yumkella said: “I know the energy revolution is powering up and ready to take off. We saw again this week that we have the technology and the innovation. Sometimes we are too suspicious of each other, we should embrace energy trade with each other.”
On his part, the managing director of City Power, Sicelo Xulu, said: “We are pleased that once again the diligent work that has been done by the City Power team has been recognized and acknowledged. This award is an affirmation of the hard work that has been done by the City Power team, and this accolade galvanizes us to work harder to provide our customers with the superior service they deserve.”
The 16th African Utility Week and Clean Power Africa conference and trade exhibition features 250 exhibitors, 250 speakers, a six stream strategic conference, a free-to-attend technical conference on the expo floor, three high-profile keynote sessions and technical site visits.
