Dec
03
2019

SMP Renewable Energy Forum with special guest William Kamkwamba

Bringing together industry leaders and practitioners from the renewable energy sector currently working between Scotland and Malawi, this round table meeting of the SMP Renewable Energy Forum featured a keynote address by the inspirational William Kamkwamba, subject of the award-winning book and global Netflix feature film The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.

Tuesday, December 3rd
Edinburgh City Chambers

Bringing together industry leaders and practitioners from the renewable energy sector currently working between Scotland and Malawi, this round table meeting of the SMP Renewable Energy Forum featured a keynote address by the inspirational William Kamkwamba, subject of the award-winning book and global Netflix feature film The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.

Full minutes from the meeting can be found here.

The meeting was chaired by Nicholas Gubbins who introduced William Kamkwamba to give his keynote speech.

William spoke of his remarkable journey which led him in 2008 to establish the Moving Windmills Project, a non-profit corporation which he created to pursue rural economic development and education projects in Malawi.

The SMP’s Renewable Energy Forum was initiated in response to the suggestion of SMP members from multiple institutions working in this sector between Scotland and Malawi, who see value in sharing information, expertise, challenges, lessons learned and opportunities. It met for the first time on 7th March 2019 in the Edinburgh City Chambers.

Contributions were also received from the following guest speakers who updated the forum on their work in Malawi:

  • Donald Speirs (Dulas)
  • Ciara Commins (SCIAF)
  • Damien Frame and Stuart Galloway from Strathclyde University
  • Lauren Opstad (Oxfam)
  • Joel Chaney (CREATIVEEnergie)
  • Ruth Milliken (Scotland Lights up Malawi)
  • Nathaniel Chalamanda (SEPA)
  • Saidi Banda (Government of Malawi) - Voice message

It is planned that there will be renewable energy directory published which will initially be available online providing a succinct overview of who in Scotland is doing what and where in Malawi in the renewables sector. To contribute to the directory email Stuart Brown on stuartb(at)scotland-malawipartnership.org.

For more information on the launch meeting, see the SMP Renewable Energy Forum minutes.

The SMP has also published a document outlining the Outcomes and Actions from this meeting.

All photos by Rod Penn (Instagram: @rod_penn)

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind trailer

About The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

SMP gala screening of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Websize SMP renewable energy forum 7