The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), Greenpeace and REN21, have picked the winner of the first edition of the “Revolutionaries: The Steve Sawyer Memorial Award.”
The awards honour late GWEC chief executive Steve Sawyer’s (pictured) efforts in the sector.
GWEC, Greenpeace and REN21 are Founding Partners of the award programme, which aims to highlight clean energy pioneers in emerging markets in Africa, Latin America, and South East Asia.
Wangari Muchiri, a renewable energy engineer and planning expert based in Kenya, will receive a “comprehensive prize package which emphasises investment, study and thought leadership”.
The virtual award ceremony will take place during the closing plenary of the 10th annual Windaba Conference, 26-27 October.
A jury representing members of Sawyer’s family will present Muchiri with the award.
Muchiri is a renewable energy planning expert who specialises in technology innovation for off-grid and peri-urban communities and was chosen from a competitive pool of applicants spanning public applicants based in South Africa, Uganda, Kenya and Ghana.
She sits on the Board of the Kenya Green Building Society, where she leads the technical committee overseeing sustainability practices in the real estate sector.
In 2019 she was a participant of the Women in Wind Global Leadership programme, jointly organised by GWEC and the Global Women’s Network for the Energy Transition (GWNET).
The same year, she was selected as one of the Obama Leaders for Africa by the Obama Foundation, and listed as one of the top six Women under 30 in STEM by the Mawazo Institute during Africa Science Week.
GWEC CEO Ben Backwell (pictured right) said: “Throughout his career, Steve Sawyer was passionate about championing the work of young innovators to accelerate the clean energy revolution.
“With her outstanding profile, expertise, and passion for advancing the role of renewables in Africa, Wangari upholds the five key pillars of the award, which were themes of Steve’s work and mission: leadership, renewable energy, innovation, scalability, and diversity.
“On behalf of the Founding Partners of the award – GWEC, Greenpeace and REN21 – we are pleased to announce Wangari as the winner of this first edition, and excited to support her career development in clean energy.”
Kelly Rigg, Sawyer’s wife and director of Varda Group environmental consultancy, said: “Steve would have been so pleased to see an award in his name be given to a woman with the kind of talent Wangari has demonstrated so early in her career.
“He would have especially loved that – like him – her passion for renewables is grounded in a strong technical background and understanding of how these technologies work in practice.
“While all the award finalists were impressive, the jury was unanimous in its opinion that she would be a powerful and effective ambassador for clean energy leadership in Africa. We look forward to watching her accomplishments in the years to come.”