Tesco Among 2010 Platts Global Energy Award Winners

by | Dec 7, 2010

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Alter NRG, Baltimore Gas & Electric, Tesco, Sunvia and Green Gas and took honors in 2010’s Platts Global Energy Awards.

Energy Efficiency Program of the Year – Commercial End-User went to UK retailer Tesco for its leaner, greener status and for its energy-use reduction efforts. In its U.K. stores alone, Tesco cut energy consumption by 20 percent by teaming with EnergyICT, an Elster Group Company.

Baltimore Gas & Electric snagged Energy Efficiency Program of the Year – Energy Supplier. The Maryland-based company went from having no energy efficiency programs to a diverse list of 10 in a year’s time – all within budget and designed for long-term viability. It was clear to judges that BGE’s innovative services to reduce wasteful energy use, such as Online Energy Calculator and replacing inefficient or end-of-life equipment, well serve residential, commercial and industrial users.

Canada’s Alter NRG received the Green Energy Initiative of the Year award because of the innovative technologies developed by two of its subsidiaries, Westinghouse Plasma Corporation (WPC) and CleanEnergy, to help meet the world’s growing demand for environmentally responsible energy solutions. WPC’s plasma gasification technology converts low-value inputs such as waste and biomass into clean and renewable energy solutions like ethanol. CleanEnergy’s residential and commercial heating and cooling harnesses energy from the earth, cutting fossil fuel use by up to 80 percent and reduces carbon emissions and operating costs. Awards judges said the global implementation of these technologies makes it clear that Alter NRG is making exemplary efforts to maintain the balance between energy and the environment.

Highlighting its low-cost, high efficiency solar cells, the Platts Global Energy Awards judges selected Sunvia for the 2010 Commercial Technology of the Year award. The U.S. company, a start-up in 2008, manufactures solar cells that turn 18.2+ percent of available sunlight into energy. Particularly impressive to the judges was Sunvia’s ability to turn innovative technological success into commercial success: more than $1 billion in orders by the start of manufacturing, with demand propelling it to sold-out status for 2011.

Aquamarine Power won the Sustainable Technology Innovation of the Year award for its original “Oyster,” a product which produces clean, sustainable electricity from ocean wave energy. The company, headquartered in Scotland, combined its innovative technology with a pioneering route-to-market strategy. Aquamarine power is clearly a leader in this renewable energy sector, producing one of the few wave energy technologies to go from the drawing board to full-scale power production, judges said.

Rising Star, an award that honors an upcoming young company for its accomplishments and potential, went to the Netherlands’ Green Gas international which was founded in 2005. In less than five years, Green Gas took from concept to profitable business focused on converting methane from coal mines and landfill gas into energy. The expansion of its project portfolio to 50 in nine countries and reducing its green house gas emissions by more than three million tons of CO2 equivalent annually was seen by judges as no easy feat.

See details on the 2010 award winners, including the judges’ rationale, here.

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