Record number of submissions for next year’s Zayed Future Energy Prize

A record number of submissions have been put forward for next year’s Zayed Future Energy Prize.

The seventh edition of the multi-million dollar award will consider 597 submissions and 514 lifetime achievement nominations from 106 countries, compared with 552 submissions from 88 countries for this year’s prize.

There was a marked increase in candidates from Latin America registering before the deadline on July 14, with submissions from the region exceeding 120.

There has also been a significant increase in participation by candidates in the categories of small and medium enterprises and non-governmental organisations.

The prize also has categories for large corporations, outstanding individuals and high schools.

All the candidates will undergo several rounds of assessment. The winners, who will be selected at the end of the year, will be announced on January 19, next year at a ceremony during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

“The Zayed Future Energy Prize offers the opportunity to be part of an extraordinary global journey and a shared vision of a better world,” said Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, the chairman of the prize jury and the president of Iceland.

Dr Sultan Al Jaber, the director general of the prize, said the response to its 2015 edition showed that a growing number of countries were investing in clean and renewable energy technologies.

“With every edition, the prize is reaching out to a broader audience driven by continuing growth in entries from emerging markets and united by a global resolve to seek sustainable solutions to the energy challenges the world currently faces,” said Dr Al Jaber, who is a Minister of State and the chief executive of Masdar.

This year’s prize winners include Chinese billionaire Wang Chuanfu, the founder of car and battery maker BYD, who received a lifetime achievement award.

Switzerland’s ABB won the large corporation award, while Abellon CleanEnergy, an Indian producer of pellets made from agricultural and sawmill residues, was the best small and medium enterprise.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Germany was awarded US$1.5 million (Dh5.5m) as the winner in the non-government organisation category.

Prize organisers also praised schools in the United States, Romania, Malawi, India and Tonga for outstanding environmental work.

The winners shared US$4 million in prize money.

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