Bushlight India takes out Engineers Australia top award for engineering excellence.

This week the Bushlight India project, managed by Alice Springs based engineering firm CAT Projects, was awarded the highest accolade in the engineering profession in Australia – the Engineers Australia Sir William Hudson Engineering Excellence award.

The Bushlight India project was an Australian government funded initiative to collaboratively develop and demonstrate a high quality, replicable and scalable model for electrifying remote Indian villages using renewable energy resources.  The model, based on more than 10 years of experience working in remote aboriginal communities in Australia, was unique in India for its service philosophy of providing an agreed, assured amount of energy – available 24/7 – to all consumers.  By working closely with a committed group of government, industry and NGO partners in India, the Bushlight India project was able to successfully develop and demonstrate an approach to rural electrification that has the potential to benefit millions of people both in India and developing countries around the world.  An important outcome of the project was the construction and commissioning of two centralised solar power stations in remote villages in the states of West Bengal and Orissa.

More information about the Bushlight India project can be found here, and a short video of the presentation of the award at Parliament House in Canberra this week can be found here.  A copy of Engineers Australia media release can be viewed here.

Grant Behrendorff, a director of Evolve Energy, was engaged by CAT Projects to develop and lead the Bushlight India project and filled the role of Project Director for the 2 ½ year duration of the project. Grant is also an independent Director on CAT Projects’ board.

Evolve Energy is thrilled to have contributed to the success of the Bushlight India project and congratulates the entire CAT Projects team on the tremendous effort that was required to deliver this project.

Bushlight India project team members Lyndon Frearson, Paul Rodden, Michael Tuckwell, and Grant Behrendorff, accepting the Sir William Hudson award from Brett Jones, Executive Officer Production at Snowy Hydro Limited, sponsors of the award.

More photos of the event can be found on our Facebook page here.