IEEE's Empower A Billion Lives Competition Names Twenty-Three Global Finalists

International teams developing the world's most innovative solutions to extreme energy poverty

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Apr 10, 2019, 05:30 ET

ATLANTA, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Twenty-three teams from around the world have been named Global Finalists in IEEE's Empower a Billion Lives, an innovation competition to identify and promote cutting-edge, high-impact solutions to extreme poverty and lack of access to energy in the developing world. Having succeeded in two previous stages of Empower a Billion Lives – including regional "pitch" competitions, the last of which was at IEEE Power Electronics Society's Decentralized Energy Access Solutions workshop in Atlanta – these teams will now undertake a field test to prove their solutions in advance of the Global Final in Baltimore in September of this year.

"We hope Empower a Billion Lives will accomplish a lot of vetting and due diligence in the energy access market, and let investors and other interested parties identify great companies to work with," said Dr. Deepak Divan, Empower a Billion Live's Chair. "We also want to give innovative teams the resources and profile they need to succeed."

Billions around the world live in severe energy poverty, largely in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Clean, affordable energy dramatically improves standards of living and prosperity, driving social and economic development. IEEE Empower a Billion Lives provides a platform for multi-disciplinary teams to develop and demonstrate cost-effective energy access technologies and business models that bring 21^st century technologies to the rural poor.

More than four hundred and fifty teams registered for Empower a Billion Lives, and more than one hundred and seventy proposals were accepted and reviewed. Of those, proposals from eighty-three teams were approved by expert reviewers and invited to attend one of five regional competitions.

The twenty-three Global Finalists offer compelling, state-of-the-art innovations, and include:

Team Name	Home Country	Empower A Billion Lives Competition Region
Entrepreneurs du Monde & Okra	France	Pacific Asia
Nanoé	Madagascar	Africa
SoULS Initiative, IIT Bombay	India	South Asia
Xpower - Next Generation Micro-Grids	United States	Americas
AgroHub	Nepal	South Asia
APOLLO	Taiwan	Pacific Asia
Baobab+	France	Europe
Bombay Bijlee	India	South Asia
Café Lumière	Madagascar	Africa
Cygni Energy	India	South Asia
Dream Grid	China	Pacific Asia
FDU Lighting Up	China	Pacific Asia
GreenSpark	China	Pacific Asia
Havenhill Synergy Limited	Nigeria	Africa
Perryman & Energime University	United States	Americas
POWER@NUS	Singapore	South Asia
Reeddi	Canada	Americas
Simusolar	Tanzania	Africa
Smart Grids Lab	Scotland	Europe
Solageo & Partners	Hong Kong	Pacific Asia
Solaris Offgrid	Spain	Europe
SolarWorX	Germany	Europe
Winnie the Power	Canada	Americas

For further information on Empower A Billion Lives and the twenty-three Global Finalist teams, please visit empowerabillionlives.org.

About IEEE

IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities, IEEE is the trusted voice in a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers, and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power, and consumer electronics. Learn more at www.ieee.org.

About The IEEE Power Electronics Society

The IEEE Power Electronics Society has over 30 years of facilitating and guiding the development and innovation in the control of electrical power for a wide variety of consumer, commercial, industrial, utility, transportation and renewable energy applications.

SOURCE IEEE