First Zayed Future Energy Prize Winner
Founder & Chairman , Bright Green Energy Foundation
Founding Managing Directdor, Grameen Shakti and Co-Founder & Former Deputy Managing Director, Grameen Bank.

Mr. Dipal C. Barua Founding Managing Director , Grameen Shakti and the Co-Founder & Former Deputy Managing Director of Grameen Bank has devoted more than 33 years of his life , finding sustainable market based solutions to the social and economical problems faced by the rural people. He was the Founding Managing Director of Grameen Shakti. He has been working since 1996 for around 14 years to take renewable energy technologies to the rural people . He is the Main Architect in developing Grameen Shakti as one of the most successful rural based renewable energy companies in the world. Under his vision and leadership, Grameen Shakti has implemented practical programs to provide renewable energy to rural people and installed around 300000 Solar Home Systems as of December 2009 , through 5000 social engineers in 800 rural offices spread all over Bangladesh.

His greatest achievement and innovation is creating an integrated, sustainable market based model, which is helping to spread renewable energy technologies to meet the energy needs of the millions of rural people who live without grid electricity. Myth has been broken that renewable energy technologies are too expensive and high tech for the rural people. He is one of the co- founders ofGrameen Bank, and occupied the number two position of this Nobel Prize Winning organization up to December 2009 . He designed and implementedGrameen II , heralding exponential growth and profitability for Grameen Bank He was born in Jobra Village from where Grameen Bank started its activities as a action research project. He took a Master Degree in Economics from Chittagong University . He was involved directly and was one of chief architects in building Grameen Bank into one of the largest financial institutions serving poor women in the world. He took part in the "Rural Development Project" as research fellow from 1974 to 1978 and in the "JobraTevhagaKhamar" as a research assistant and coordinator under the supervision of Professor Yunus. This action research project eventually became Grameen Bank. He was also a key figure in transforming Grameen Bank in to specialize banking institution. Mr. Barua is one of the driving forces in expanding renewable energy technologies in Bangladesh. He advocated and succeeded in promoting Solar PV technology in Bangladesh. He has shown through Grameen Shakti that solar PV technology can be successfully implemented on a mass scale to provide rural people with climate friendly energy, light, income and health. He has introduced innovative financial mechanism that has made Solar Home Systems affordable for the rural people of Bangladesh. Now rural people can afford Solar Home Systems at the same cost as kerosene. He also developed innovative awareness building programs and training programs for local technicians to ensure low cost efficient after sales service at the doorsteps of the rural people. He has successfully linked Solar PV technology with income generation and energy cost savings. All these have made Solar Home Systems very popular among the rural people and over 300000 Solar Home Systems has been installed as of December 2009 with around 13000 systems installed per month, benefiting around 3 million rural people. Grameen Shakti and Mr, Barua has received many national and international awards including Right Livelihood Award in 2007 and Ashden Outstanding Achievement Award in 2008. He is the first ever winner of Zayed Future Energy Prize 2009 of 1.5 million US$ from UAE. In addition, he has developed an innovative biogas initiative that converts cow dung and poultry wastes into gas for cooking, lighting, electricity generation and slurry for organic fertilizer, and an improved cooking stove program to promote low cost improved stoves in rural areas to protect women from in-door air pollution and also reduce deforestation. More than 8000 biogas plants has been constructed since 2006 and over 40, 000 improved stoves constructed since 2007. He is also promoting tree plantation and organic fertilizers in the rural areas. He designed and developed Grameen Technology Centers-an innovative model to create Green Energy Women Entrepreneurs. Around 46 Grameen Technology Centers (GTC) has been set up in the rural areas to train 3000 young women to become solar technicians to assemble, promote as well as repair Solar Home Systems and other renewables. Many of these women who come from poor, disadvantaged families, are assembling, repairing solar accessories such as mobile chargers, invertors and charge controllers etc in their homes and thus contributing toward their family income, especially meeting the education and health needs of the children Through this innovative program, initiated at the end of 2005, he is contributing towards women empowerment, poverty reductions as well as expansion of environment friendly technologies. He has set up a Scholarship Fund with his Zayed Future Energy Prize award money to expand and create 100000 Green Energy Women Entrepreneurs by 2015. Mr. Barua is actively involved in research and publication to develop and disseminate best practices in the international arena. He is the author of the book titled " The Poor Always Pay Back", published from Kumarian Press, USA, which explains and analyzes the development of Grameen Bank from Classic to Generalized System. He participates in many national and international seminars to advocate pro poor finance and energy policies. He is an advisor of Project Enterprise, a micro lending Program, in New York, USA.

As a Micro-credit and Development Expert he gives his input and recommendations to initiate and develop micro-credit policies in various countries including linking micro-credit with health, housing, technology etc for socio-economic development of the poor. In 2001, he visited Venezuala at the invitation of President Mr. Hugu Chavez to conduct a study for expanding micro-credit in that country. Recenly in 2008, he attended the Cabinet Retreat of the President of Namibia to give a presentation on developing micro-credit in Namibia. He is also a member of the advisory board of the International Climate Initiative , Germany. He is the Board member of A Solar World For All , a new initiative to expand solar energy to the rural people . He is also the Jury member of the Design Contest , initiated by FraunhoferInsititute of Solar Energy (ISE), Germany and Canopus Foundation .

His Vision is to transform Bangladesh into a Land of Green Energy and Income through his innovative efforts. He dreams of empowering 75 million people (50% of theBnagladeshis) through renewable energy technologies by 2015 . His very own milliniumdevelopoment goal include installing 7.5 million Solar Home Systems , constructing 2 million biogas plants and 20 million improved cooking stoves by 2015. This would be avery positive demonstration of what renewable energy technologies can do for the disadvantaged people around the world. He has set up Green Energy Foundation to implement his dream , pilot test new business models , innovatitive technologies and disseminate these in developing countries like Bangladesh and Africa. He will also set up a Training Institute to train manpower for both Bangladesh and other developing countries. One of main goals is to develop Renewable Energy Entrepreneurs especially women who will promote , repair and maintain Solar Home Systems and other renewables .

National and International Awards Received under the leadership of Dipal Chandra Barua, Founding Managing Director, Grameen Shakti Author image