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Since 2016, the IEEE Power Electronics Society’s dynamic Empower a Billion Lives (EBL) has challenged innovators to develop scalable solutions to energy access for millions of people worldwide

Access to reliable energy is crucial for a community’s growth, economic prosperity, and improved standard of living. However, according to the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), an estimated 666 million people currently lack access to electricity. Another 1.18 billion individuals have insufficient access to electricity, and 2.1 billion people have no access to clean cooking solutions.

The lack of access to clean, affordable, and modern energy has far-reaching consequences for people’s livelihoods, education, and health. The IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS) has long been determined—and is uniquely positioned—to address the significant global challenge of energy access. They have responded with the donor-supported global competition to crowdsource scalable solutions to energy access through Empower a Billion Lives (EBL).

Unleashing Innovation

The Empower a Billion Lives initiative was born out of discussions held at the 2016 PELS workshop in Atlanta, GA, USA, by attendees representing such leading organizations as the World Bank, senior advisors from USAID, GE Energy, CLASP, GOGLA, IEEE Smart Village, and others came together to develop a strategy to address energy access for underserved communities globally. The main recommendation was that organizing a global competition, including field testing, could derisk market entry for solutions while being the means to unleash innovation and entrepreneurship, creating holistic, sustainable, and financially viable, productive solutions that can scale rapidly to >1 billion users.

Officially launched by PELS, the biennial Empower a Billion Lives Competition invites students, companies, research labs, non-profit entities, and other vested organizations around the world to submit creative approaches incorporating exponential technologies with regionally relevant solutions that demonstrate the impact created for communities through a scalable business model. The solutions will deliver energy at a baseline of 50W for at least four hours per day, which is considered the minimum for productive use. 

Since the competition began in 2019, it has been held twice and attracted participants from over 70 nations who have presented a wide array of innovative solutions. These solutions have shown significant potential in providing energy access, driving economic growth, and improving the quality of life.  Recent winners and their groundbreaking innovations include: 

• Team “SoULS,” the 2019 Global Grand Prize winner from India, developed an initiative that provided assembly training to 9,000 women in 34 languages and an open-source supply chain that catalyzed thousands of women’s groups to open assembly workshops and solar home system kiosks in their communities, impacting 7 million beneficiaries.
• Team “Nanoe” from Madagascar, the 2023 Global Grand Prize winner, developed access to electricity and employment by creating a progressive and modular electrification model for Africa based on renewable energies, information and communication technologies, and local entrepreneurship. With 150 trained local entrepreneurs and 80 employees, Nanoe has electrified over 10,000 homes.
• With its affordable clean energy innovations, the “Reeddi” student team from Nigeria has positively impacted 70,000 people and offset 120,000 Kg of CO₂ emissions.
• Team “Green Empowerment” efforts in Malaysia to build clean water and renewable energy infrastructure in conjunction with local partner organizations have generated nearly 250 infrastructure projects benefiting 483,000 people.
• The Nigerian “DeOlivette” team, whose creation of easy-to-use digester technology offers a safe approach to clean cooking and benefits 200,000 people, saved 50,000 trees, and developed opportunities for 5,000 local women entrepreneurs.
• The Berlin-based “SolarWorX” team, whose unique pay-as-you-go, mesh-grid solar solutions benefited 6,000 people in Cameroon and Zambia.
• The Myanmar-based “Atutu” team’s solar energy solutions have benefited 1,300 people across 250 households and 22 community centers in Southeast Asia.

Join the Movement!

The Empower a Billion Lives 2025 Competition is fully underway. All teams are field-testing their solution in an energy access community for track teams, and student teams are testing locally. The Global Finals will occur in 2025 December at the IEEE PELS Southern Power Electronics Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Participants are energy access experts who know the regional challenges in their sector in depth. Student teams benefit from being part of the EBL community and the energy access ecosystem, which has led to teams joining together to begin joint ventures. Prizes are awarded for each of the six tracks and the Grand Prize. Winners attract follow-on investments from countries, International Organizations, and Venture Capitalists, and to date, prizes and team support (for 2019 and 2023) have reached US$1 million.

Empower a Billion Lives supports entrepreneurial teams that can scale their energy access solutions. We are working to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 for energy access by providing millions with affordable, sustainable, and regionally relevant solutions. 

This vital program relies on donor support. To join our EBL Supporters like Delta, onsemi, Southern Company, Enphase, ABB, Texas Instruments, Vicor, Schneider Electric, and our IEEE Partners like the Standards Association, and IEEE Societies of Power and Energy, Electronic Packaging, Control Systems, and Industrial Electronics;  click here to donate. For more information on the IEEE-PELS Empower a Billion Lives Competition, visit  https://empowerabillionlives.org/. 

SOURCES

2025 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank. “Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report 2025.” https://trackingsdg7.esmap.org/downloads. This work is a joint product of the International Energy Agency, the International Renewable Energy Agency, the United Nations Statistics Division, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization.

Husain, Ali, and Celusak, Jane.  (10 October 2024).  “Empowerment Through Energy: How Empower a Billion Lives Seeks to Address Energy Access.”  IEEE Power Electronics Magazine.