2017 Winner: The Energiewende 3.0 - Smart P2P Solar Grids
Congratulations to Dr. Sebastian Groh of ME SOLshare Ltd., winner of the inaugural Renewable Transformation Challenge.
The Energiewende 3.0 - Smart P2P Solar Grids
Dr. Groh wins 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 potential to play a crucial role in supporting rural development and providing a means of direct income to rural communities.
“Elsevier were impressed by the project’s potential to positively impact people and the planet – reducing the cost of energy access; supporting women who are the main energy consumers during trading hours; creating solar entrepreneurs and social empowerment; and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy generation by increasing use of renewables and reducing reliance on unsustainable energy sources such as kerosene and diesel,” said Katherine Eve, Executive Publisher of Elsevier’s renewable and sustainable energy journal portfolio. “By backing community projects like SOLshare, Elsevier, in collaboration with our partners such as ISES, continues to play a significant role in supporting the UN Sustainability Development Goals.”
“ISES is very excited about this award, and the groundbreaking work being undertaken by ME SOLshare. A major key toward achieving 100% renewable energy globally is for there to be effective business models that provide reliable and clean energy access for all, including the 1.2 billion people around the world who currently do not have access to electrification services,” added Dr. David Renné, President of ISES. “We are confident that ME SOLshare’s efforts will make major strides toward achieving clean energy goals in off-grid regions.”
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(opens in new tab/window) in Abu Dhabi where he will be presented with the Award during the conference dinner on 1 November 2017.
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 in 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.”
Installing solar panels
Top 10 entries to the 2017 Renewable Transformation Challenge
The following entries were selected as the top 10 (in alphabetical order):
Shreya Agarwal, Boond Engineering and Development Pvt Ltd, India Smart Metering Technology for Microgrids
Christian Breyer, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland Global-local 100% RE Modeling in High Resolution
Ajay Chandak, PRINCE (Promoters, Researchers & Innovators in New & Clean Energy), Suman Foundation, India Virtual Rooftop Solar Power with Retail Exchange
Andy Cloud, Cirrostratus, USA Pumped Storage Hydropower with Floating PV Power
Sebastian Groh, SOLshare, Bangladesh The Energiewende 3.0 - Smart P2P Solar Grids
Jemma Green, Curtin University, Australia Citizen Utilities
Kate Greenwood, Alternative Technology Association (ATA), Australia Light Up East Timor
Venkat Rajaraman, Cygni Energy Private Limited, India Solar DC Micro-grid
Brian Somers, Standard Microgrid, South Africa Re-imagining the African Utility
Varun Vohra, University of Electro-communications, Japan Eco-friendly Low-cost Energy Devices for Everyone