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"KENYAN STUDENTS WIN PRIZE FOR SOLAR POWER PROJECT"

A group of students from Kenya was among winners of the 2017 Zayed Future Energy Prize. The 10-member team is receiving a $100,000 award to make their school a “green energy” institution.

The Zayed Future Energy Prize winners were recognized at a ceremony in January in Abu Dhabi. The award is presented every year through a competitive process. It goes to organizations or individuals with new ideas about renewable energy to help in efforts against global warming.

The Kenyan students were recognized for their plan to improve the Starehe Girls’ Centre and School, a secondary school about 20 kilometers north of Nairobi. The students say they will use some of the prize money to create a 25-kilowatt embedded solar carport. Under their proposal, the school would set up solar equipment to collect energy from the sun.

The Kenyan team competed in designing and modeling a solar powered car at the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi. The car’s solar panel creates electricity from sunlight. The students tested their vehicle in a race. It finished in fourth place out of 15 schools.

Kenya’s Ministry of Education, through the National Commission of Science and Innovation, promised an additional $20,000. The organization operates in Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. But the project had an effect on the representative, who promised to extend Solar Sisters’ work to Kenya.

The school administration and teachers believe in protecting the environment. They have a custom of asking every visitor at the school to plant a tree on the property.