Page 12 - Internationalist Magazine 2013 66

FRONT

Denmark’s Vestas Wind an economically-viable manner.

Systems A/S, is the This November in New York, Vestas’ Morten

world’s biggest wind Albaek, in collaboration with the United Nations

turbine manufacturer. The and Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Managing

company’s inspirational Director and CEO of Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s

CMO Morten Albaek had renewable energy company, introduce the Wind

an insight last year that
for Prosperity initiative. Along with an esteemed

is now at the root of a panel including Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director

ground-breaking corporate of the Earth Institute and Professor of Sustainable

initiative to ight energy
Development at Columbia University and Georg

poverty. He knew that approximately 1.3 billion Kell, Executive Director of United Nations Global

people today live without reliable access to Compact (UNGC), these leading energy experts

electricity. He also realized that Vestas has the discussed poverty, electricity access, sustainable

ability to identify areas of the world where wind growth, and how other corporations can lend

resources can be exploited at low cost in remote support.

communities. Albaek and his team discovered

that 50 million people are living in areas of high The initial goal of Wind for Prosperity is to deploy

poverty with abundant wind resources. Wind wind energy that provides electricity for 100

for Prosperity was born when Vestas recognized
communities or roughly one million people within

Qthat rural, off-grid communities could experience
the next three years.

sustainable prosperity by harvestingA
the wind in

&

HereisfurtherQ&A

with the innovative thinker

behind this project,

Morten Albaek:

What is Wind for Prosperity all about?
commercially-based and thus more

sustainable than efforts based on philanthropy,
Wind for Prosperity is an innovative,
traditional development assistance or CSR
commercially-based business model to bring
motivations.
affordable and reliable electricity to rural

populations that currently lack it. Anchored
How does it work?
on a wind hybrid power system, Wind

for Prosperity creates a new opportunity Wind for Prosperity combines robust, factory-

for business, government, and inancial refurbished wind turbines with advanced

institutions to combine their talents to diesel power generation to create hybrid

improve people’s lives and generate risk- systems that are well-suited for operation on

adjusted returns for private investors. mini-grids in remote locations with limited

The Wind for Prosperity concept is
infrastructure. The turbines are easy to

10 the internationalist