Identifying the world’s best, most energy-efficient off-grid appliances

The Global LEAP Awards use a competition-based approach to drive innovation and performance in early-stage product markets, while also building valuable technical and commercial market infrastructure.

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Press Release: Global LEAP Awards Announces Winners and Finalists of the 2022 Off-Grid Cold Chain Challenge

2022 Global LEAP Awards Off-Grid Cold Chain Challenge Announces Preliminary Finalists

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How We Scale Markets

Appropriately-designed, highly energy-efficient appliance technologies are essential to accelerating global energy access efforts. Awards programs are a key entry point for new technologies and trends in emerging markets.

The Global LEAP Awards is an international competition to identify and promote the world’s best off-grid appliances, accelerating market development and innovation.

This unique program has evolved into a trusted global brand that serves as the de facto source of accurate, actionable information about the quality and energy performance of off-grid appliances.

Awards and prizes also provide a platform for follow-on and affiliated interventions that accelerate a given awards or prize program’s impacts. Global LEAP results-based financing aims to catalyze the uptake of high quality, super-efficient appliances by lowering the cost to procure large volumes of best-in-class appliances for early mover off-grid solar companies, and facilitating new business partnerships for appliance suppliers that have invested in the production of high-quality off-grid appliances.

Impacts To Date

The Global LEAP Awards results-based financing facility has catalyzed the sale of more than 280,000 off-grid refrigerators, TVs, solar water pumps, and electric pressure cookers in seven countries, reaching more than 1,289,000 beneficiaries.

Competitions & Challenges

Solar E-Waste Challenge

A program to support innovations in off-grid solar e-waste management across sub-Saharan Africa.

Electric Pressure Cookers

Cooking is essential for human health and productivity, but the market for appropriately designed, energy efficient off-and weak-grid electric pressure cookers remains nascent.

Refrigerators

Refrigeration is essential for human health and productivity, but the market for appropriate and efficient off-and weak-grid refrigerators remains nascent.

Solar Water Pumps

Solar water pumps can increase yields while reducing labor for farmers in developing countries who lack access to electricity, but commercial markets for these pumps are nascent.

Off-Grid Cold Chain Challenge

Modern cold chain technology is crucial to developing local and international agriculture-based markets and improving economic outcomes and food security.

Televisions

Off-grid televisions represent a major emerging commercial opportunity, but high upfront cost and low-quality products remain a barrier to an accelerated market development.

Fans

Fans are one of the most overlooked, life-saving cooling solutions, but most fans on the market are too energy-intensive to pair with off-grid solar systems.

Explore Global LEAP Awards Publications

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Batteries & Storage

Innovations in Off-Grid Solar E-Waste Management

This report presents case studies on the first round of the inaugural Global LEAP Awards Solar E-Waste Challenge, offering detailed analysis of eight projects addressing growing e-waste levels from the off-grid solar sector in sub-Saharan Africa.

05 May 2021

Cooking

2020 Buyer’s Guide for Electric Pressure Cookers

The Global LEAP Awards Buyer’s Guide is a catalog of the world’s best off-grid appliances. This edition contains information about electric pressure cookers that were named Winners and Finalists in the 2020 Global LEAP Awards.

08 Mar 2021

Cooling

Global LEAP Awards Off-Grid Cold Chain Follow-Up Report

The Global LEAP Off-Grid Cold Chain Challenge (OGCCC) was launched in August 2018 as part of the Ideas to Impact programme to fill information gaps about one component of the off-grid cold chain (cold storage) with the hopes of contributing to a larger discourse addressing off-grid cold chains designed to support smallholder farmers.

29 Sep 2020

Global LEAP Off-Grid Refrigerator Competition (Round 1) Follow-up Report

The 2016-17 Global LEAP Awards Off-Grid Refrigerator Competition (Round 1) aimed to transform the global market for off-grid refrigerators by incentivising companies to nominate appliances to be tested in laboratory and field settings, and then to be benchmarked against one other. This follow-up review builds on the findings of the evaluation conducted by the innovation foundation Nesta to assess what happened to the Winners and Finalists of Round 1 of the Competition.

29 Sep 2020

Electronics

Use and Impact of Solar TVs

From 2018-2019, Efficiency for Access partnered with 60 Decibels to survey Global LEAP results-based financing customers in East Africa about their experiences with solar TVs. This analysis provides valuable insights into customers’ demographics, usage, and challenges with solar TVs.

06 Feb 2020

Renewable Energy Systems

Global LEAP Awards Solar E-Waste Market Scoping Report

This Solar E-Waste Market Scoping Report outlines the current state of knowledge and activities on solar e-waste management in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as several barriers the Solar E-Waste Challenge should seek to address.

04 Nov 2019

Refrigeration

2019 Global LEAP Awards Buyer’s Guide for Outstanding Off-Grid Refrigerators

The Global LEAP Awards Buyer’s Guide is a catalog of the world’s best off-grid appliances. This edition contains information about off-grid refrigerators that were named Winners and Finalists in the 2019 Global LEAP Awards.

23 Oct 2019

Agricultural Equipment

2019 Global LEAP Awards Buyer’s Guide for Solar Water Pumps

The Global LEAP Awards Buyer’s Guide is a catalog of the world’s best off-grid appliances. This edition contains information about solar water pumps that were named Winners and Finalists in the 2019 Global LEAP Awards.