The international award based in the United Arab Emirates was conceived as a platform for “innovation, performance and leadership in sustainable and renewable energy projectsâ€. The 2011 edition attracted 391 entries from 69 countries, but only 40 made it into the shortlist announced in December.
Vestas is a key player in the renewable energy scene. A global presence, it has made more than 41,000 turbines for customers in 65 countries across five continents. The company’s turbines generate more than 60 million MWh of energy each year, enough to power 21 million people. The company says that represents more power capacity than any other company.
The winner and the two runner-ups were selected by a jury of business and political leaders. It included Dr. R.K. Pachauri, chairman of the jury and head of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Iceland’s president Ólafur Ragnar Grimsson, the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Susan Hockfield, and the founder and chairman of Foster and Partners, Lord Norman Foster, among others.
The organization said that the judges were impressed with Vestas’ long-term vision and ability to scale up through a commercially viable business model and its long-term commitment to renewable energy in its home country, which has become a global reference in wind power. Currently, Denmark sources around 20% of its electricity from wind.
“Vestas clearly stood out for a number of reasons, and most importantly, for dynamically changing wind-energy technology, something that requires imagination, vision and dedication. Innovation doesn’t come about through a flash in the pan, it is something that requires enormous perseverance, clarity of purpose, efforts and resourcesâ€, said Dr. R.K. Pachauri.
Vestas CEO Ditlev Engel, who attended the ceremony to receive the prize, said: “It is a tremendous honor for all of us at Vestas to receive this prestigious award. Not least, we are very much honored to hear the jury’s words about innovation and industry leadership.” The company donated half of the money to WindMadeTM, an NGO founded by Vestas in partnership with the UN Global Compact, WWF, GWEC, Bloomberg, LEGO and PwC. The remaining $ 750,000 was equally divided between the finalists that ranked fourth, fifth and sixth.
Amory B. Lovins, chairman and chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute, was awarded a runner-up prize of US$350,000 for his work on an “integrative design†methodology for energy efficient buildings, vehicles and factories. Lovins describes his designs as a “powerful and globally applicable new tool for shifting rapidly from oil and coal to efficiency and renewables.â€
E+Co, a clean-energy investment company, was also awarded a runner-up prize of US$350,000. It was chosen for its work in the developing world where it supports and invests in promising small-scale renewable energy enterprises that help people in those people to fight climate change and to mitigate energy poverty.
1 Comment