From the Power Africa website:
In celebration of its two year anniversary this week, Power Africa is announcing eight winners for it’s inaugural photo contest. The winning collection captures the momentum and ideas that are driving innovation in sub-Saharan Africa’s energy sector. Winners were showcased during the 2015 Africa Energy Forum, where Power Africa served as a strategic partner to conference organizer EnergyNet.
“When people see the innovative energy projects and ideas emerging out of sub-Saharan Africa, they see that progress can and will be made for creating a brighter future,” said Andrew M. Herscowitz, President Obama’s coordinator for Power Africa.
The photo contest proposed the following challenge for participants to answer through their submissions:
Impact: What does energy and energy innovation look like in practice?
Change: How does access to electricity change a human life or an ecosystem (government, community, organization)?
New Model: How is Power Africa’s approach different?
Partnership: What does energy look like when we work together in partnership through Power Africa?This solar field at the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda embraces a big range of causes: it helps the long-term sustainability of the Village, it is good for the environment, it generates local employment and education and it empowers the country with access to electricity – which in itself results in a myriad of benefits for the Rwandan population. Located on rolling green hills, east of Kigali, this $23 million project is the first utility-scale, grid-connected, commercial solar field in East Africa. The field is 8.5 MW, and it increased Rwanda’s generation capacity by 6%.
This 500W solar system in a rural village in Uganda powers a home, drives a public broadcasting system, a barbershop and a video hall and generates new income for the business owner.
