Eight19 Receives Rushlight Solar Award 2011

Eight19 picked up the Rushlight Solar Award 2011 at a gala dinner celebration at Church House Westminster, London. Many CEOs, directors and leaders of clean technology companies from the UK and Ireland, accompanied by their advisers and investors, were in attendance to see who would win the prestigious Rushlight Awards. Guest speaker at the event was Baroness Worthington, the Labour Peer.

The Solar Award is presented to the entrant who can show that they have made the most significant contribution towards harnessing the sun’s light or heat in the process of making solar an effective and practical energy source. In the words of the Rushlight Awards, the Solar Award is “designed to celebrate and publicize the significant achievements in developing the technology and innovation behind the use of solar energy.”

Eight19 received the award for its work on the IndiGo pay-as-you-go solar system that combines mobile phone technology with solar power to offer affordable electricity for off-grid communities in emerging markets. The IndiGo product family provides an affordable solar lighting system by introducing breakthrough technology which enables a new sustainable business model – one that eliminates the limiting high up-front cost of solar lighting. Users purchase scratch cards on a weekly basis and can choose to upgrade after a period of time to progressively expand their systems as their energy needs increase.

IndiGo systems were first installed in Kenya in September 2011 in partnership with leading NGO SolarAid, and are now reaching families in Zambia, Malawi and South Sudan. In line with the launch of the UN’s Sustainable Energy for All initiative last month, Eight19 and Solar Aid launched a Kickstart Sustainable Energy Fund to accelerate the roll-out of 4,000 IndiGo units in East Africa in the next few months.

“Eight19 is honored to be the recipient of the 2011 Rushlight Solar Award,” Simon Bransfield-Garth, Eight19’sCEO, said. “Eight19’s IndiGo pay-as-you-go solar lighting product enables users to eliminate kerosene for lighting and at the same time save money on fuel costs. This award provides further momentum to the objective we share with our partner Solar Aid to eliminate kerosene for lighting in Africa by the end of the decade.”