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Best Mag: Solar and battery powered tractor for Africa gets award

Aftrak, an initiative based out of the UK and Tiyeni of Malawi, a Malawian non-government organisation has won the Milken-Motsepe prize for green energy.

Modern farming is energy consuming as most machines are powered with fossil fuels. However, the last decade has seen a strong trend towards a more sustainable agricultural infrastructure. The outcome is an easy-assembled revolutionary solar and lead-battery-powered tractor, supporting sustainable farming in Africa that has won a major international environmental prize, the Milken-Motsepe prize for green energy.

The project has been co-founded by the Consortium for Battery Innovation (CBI) and the global lead battery manufacturer Clarios, based in Wisconsin, and owner of battery brands like Varta and Optima. The team is led by Loughborough University in the UK.

 

Read the full article here.

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Africa’s Green Economy Summit: Milken-Motsepe Green Energy Prize Winner: “Aftrak Solves Economic and Green Energy Challenges and Produces A Zero Carbon Energy Solution Accessible To Nearly Everyone”

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH JONATHAN WILSON, AFTRAK PROJECT LEAD, THE WINNERS OF THIS YEAR’S MILKEN-MOTSEPE GREEN ENERGY PRIZE OF $1-MILLION. HE IS ALSO A LECTURER IN SYSTEMS AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AT LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY. AFTRAK IS A GROUNDBREAKING INITIATIVE THAT COMBINES SOLAR MICROGRIDS AND TAILORED TRACTORS TO EMPOWER SMALLHOLDER FARMERS ACROSS AFRICA. IT AIMS TO SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE CROP YIELDS AND SMALLHOLDER INCOMES WHILE PROVIDING ACCESS TO CLEAN, GREEN ELECTRICITY IN RURAL COMMUNITIES. CONGRATULATIONS ON WINNING THE MILKEN-MOTSEPE GREEN ENERGY PRIZE! CAN YOU SHARE A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF YOUR INNOVATION AND ITS IMPACT ON EXPANDING ACCESS TO SUSTAINABLE ELECTRICITY IN AFRICA? We’re obviously thrilled to bits to win the Milken-Motsepe Prize for Green Energy. Our innovation is around a socio-economic solution to both energy access, but also agriculture and food scarcity. So, we have a system that comprises of three main parts. The first one is a microgrid, and we put loads of work into this microgrid.

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June 25, 2024
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Africa’s Green Economy Summit: Milken-Motsepe Green Energy Prize Runner-Up: “Omnivat’s ecosystem of solutions tackles an ecosystem of challenges typically found in Sub-Saharan Africa

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH RANDY KABUYA, ENGINEER AND CO-FOUNDER OF OMNIVAT, THE RUNNERS-UP IN THIS YEAR’S MILKEN-MOTSEPE GREEN ENERGY PRIZE. THE COMPANY WON $250,000 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. CONGRATS ON BEING THE RUNNERS-UP IN THE MILKEN-MOTSEPE GREEN ENERGY PRIZE! CAN YOU SHARE A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF YOUR INNOVATION AND ITS IMPACT ON EXPANDING ACCESS TO SUSTAINABLE ELECTRICITY IN AFRICA? For myself and 1.2 billion people, sub-Saharan Africa is a place that we call home. But sadly though, half that number here don’t have access to electricity, while the other half have to contend with frequent power cuts. These are businesses and residents. So essentially what you see is that the centralised electricity supply and generation system either does not work or is unreliable for those that it’s actually serving, or it simply is unfeasible for those

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June 25, 2024
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Engineering News: Award-winning Omnivat to roll out pilots of containerised electricity generation and storage system

Renewable energy technology company Omnivat Tech, the creator of an award-winning containerised electricity generation and storage system, aims to deploy three in-field pilot plants in the coming months. The company intends to trial different use cases, including health facility support, backup power and community-owned models. “We are a pan-African team with a pan-African vision. We will deploy our initial systems in South Africa and will be developing a pipeline across sub-Saharan Africa. We are open to public- and private-sector customers and intend to collaborate with both to meet the needs of communities, facilities and businesses,” says Omnivat.   Read the full article here

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June 10, 2024

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