National Geographic helped advance the cause of sustainable energy for off-grid communities by crowning the winners of the Terra Watt Prize — the first competition of its kind — on June 11 in Washington, D.C. As torchbearers for cleaner, safer, and cheaper energy alternatives for the global poor, co-champions Mera Gao Micro Grid Power (MGP) and EGG-energy Tanzania Limited (EGG) beat out over 50 other teams to split $250,000 in grant money to implement their winning ideas.

MGP, headed by India-based Nikhil Jaisinghani, used its extensive experience building, owning, and operating low-cost, solar-powered microgrids to edge out the competition with its innovative proposal to provide poor, off-grid communities with quality indoor lighting and telephone-charging services in Uttar Pradesh,