The Sixth Annual Global South-South Development Expo (GSSD) was held in Nairobi, Kenya, on Oct.28. Professor Xi Wenhua was awarded for his special contribution to global south-south cooperation by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC).
This was another award after his receiving “the Outstanding Contribution Award” at World Energy Congress in Vienna on May 5, 2013. Professor Xi Wenhua was the first person winning two UN awards consecutively in one year in the field of solar energy. One UN senior official said Professor Xi Wenhua “uses the solar energy to light and warm the world” and his achievement wins global recognition and attention.
News Background:
Professor Xi Wenhua serves as the Director-General of International Solar Energy Center for Technology Promotion & Transfer (ISEC-UNIDO), Gansu Natural Energy Research Institute (GNERI)/UNIDO and the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Center for Solar Energy, the Chairman of Solar and Wind Energy Association of Gansu Province, and the Vice Chairman of China Energy and Environment Technology Association.
He has been dedicated to the research of renewable energy after graduating from School of Foreign Languages and Literatures of LZU. He has won many scientific research awards including 17 national, ministerial and provincial technical advancement awards and held 6 patents. From 1979, he chaired and completed many international solar energy technical cooperation projects, overseas assistance projects and international technical training projects. These include multi-lateral projects funded by UNDP, UNESCO, UNIDO, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and bilateral projects between China and other countries especially developing countries. He has also demonstrated his management and coordination capacity in the founding of Gansu Natural Energy Research Institute (GNERI) and in leading GNERI into one of the world’s preeminent solar energy research institutions. Actively involved in domestic and international technical exchange activities, he paid visits to more than 120 countries in Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe and Latin America for technical exchange, lectures and international joint research activities from 1985, and won fame and credit in the fields of domestic and international cooperation on renewable energy especially solar energy. He has been devoted to the development of solar energy and is called “energy giant” in the warm sunny world.
(Translated by Ren Lina, Proofread by Lawrence Xu)
