MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, July 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2024 Global Energy Prize winners were announced on July 3. The winners were Zi-Qiang Zhu, Head of the Electrical Machines and Drives Research Group at the University of Sheffield (UK); Héctor D. Abruña, Emile Chamot Professor of Chemistry at Cornell University (USA); and Minggao Ouyang, Professor at the Tsinghua University (China).

Zi-Qiang Zhu became a laureate in the Traditional Energy category for outstanding contribution to electrified transportation, improving energy efficiency of domestic appliances, reducing emissions for generation and utilisation of electric power.

Héctor D. Abruña was selected in the Non-Traditional Energy category for the foundational contributions spanning electrochemistry, batteries, fuel cells and molecular electronics.

Minggao Ouyang became the winner in the New Ways of Energy Application category for technical leadership in strategic planning, research, demonstration and commercialisation of new energy vehicles, especially for solving technical challenges of hydrogen fuel cell durability, lithium-ion battery safety and vehicle-to-grid interaction.

The ceremony to announce the laureates was attended by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rae Kwon Chung, as well as members of the International Award Committee of the Global Energy Prize William Byun, Liye Xiao and Dmitri Bessarabov.

The laureates were selected by an international award committee consisting of scientists from 13 countries: Bolivia, China, Côte d'Ivoire, Hungary, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, UAE, USA.

"The growing share of electricity in primary energy consumption is one of the key trends in global energy in recent years. In this regard, the research of the laureates is more than relevant today. This once again proves how thin the border between fundamental and applied science is," said Rae Kwon Chung, Nobel laureate, Chairman of the Global Energy Prize International Award Committee.

The award ceremony will be held in September 2024.