The Milken Institute and the Motsepe Foundation have announced the winners of the Milken-Motsepe Prize in Green Energy: a $2-million innovation competition to reward entrepreneurs working to expand access to reliable, affordable and sustainable off-grid electricity in Africa. The winners were announced at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles.
Aftrak, an initiative based out of the United Kingdom and Malawi, was awarded the $1-million Grand Prize for its easily assembled solar microgrid and custom-designed tractors, which have tripled agricultural yield, increased farmer incomes and provided electricity to remote communities. The runner-up award of $250 000 was presented to South Africa-based OMNIVAT for its containerised electricity generation and storage system, which provides clean water, clean energy and Wi-Fi enriched by virtual reality support for remote communities.
The Milken-Motsepe Prize in Green Energy is the second in the Milken-Motsepe Innovation Prize Programme: a series of multiyear, multimillion-dollar global innovation competitions and awards aimed at advancing technological progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The first competition in this programme, the Milken-Motsepe Prize in AgriTech, was launched in 2021, and focused on addressing the goals of no poverty and achieving zero hunger.
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