Recognising their outstanding role in bringing smart and energy efficient technologies to rural areas, the two companies won awards, along with nine other pioneering sustainable energy organisations, at a prestigious ceremony in London on 11 June 2015.

The International Gold Award and Ashden Award for Business Innovation went to SteamaCo, a Nairobi-based company that has developed a system to manage the monitoring, control and payments of mini grids remotely, overcoming one of the key barriers to making micro-grids commercially feasible and sustainable.

Steama.co is the market leader in technology for managing off-grid renewable energy networks in emerging markets, and it is helping utilities and customers communicate and link up in rural Africa. The continent is home to millions of people who go without electricity every day, and Steama.co is helping to change that with more distributed energy generation and data analytics.

Kenya-based business SteamaCo is harnessing the power of mobile to bring affordable electricity access to rural, off-grid communities. SteamaCo’s smart technology allows solar micro-grid owners to monitor their performance remotely and capture consumer payments via mobile money platforms, thereby overcoming the traditional challenges of keeping grids working reliably and profitably.

SteamaCo is unlocking one of the key barriers to making micro-grids investable

International Gold Award and Ashden Award for Business Innovation, supported by Citi

Lake Victoria’s fishing villages and other rural communities in Kenya are benefiting from clean light and power for the first time, thanks to renewable energy micro-grids. Using the natural energy of the sun, they work like mini power stations for each village, supplying enough energy to run small businesses, as well as power TVs, radios and bright lights in the home.