Ghanaian engineer Johannes Amo-Aye wins Africa Prize award for hybrid wind and solar innovation

Ghanaian engineer Johannes Amo-Aye has won the £5,000 One-to-Watch Award at the 2026 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation for developing a hybrid wind and solar energy system designed to provide reliable electricity to off-grid communities.

His innovation, the Fusion Wind Turbine, combines wind and solar power to provide electricity to underserved communities, particularly rural health facilities that rely on expensive diesel generators during power outages.

The award, decided by an audience vote, was presented at a ceremony held at NH Johannesburg Sandton in South Africa.

Amo-Aye's recognition comes as the continent continues to grapple with electricity access challenges, with more than 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa living without reliable electricity.

In Ghana, the technology is intended to address power supply challenges in rural health centres, where outages can disrupt medical services, compromise vaccine refrigeration and affect the delivery of emergency care.

Developed by MINAGIE Energy, the Fusion Wind Turbine combines a Darrieus H-type vertical-axis wind turbine with a solar arch fitted with bifacial panels.

The wind turbine uses a gearless direct-drive generator incorporating magnetic levitation technology, which the developers say reduces friction, noise and maintenance requirements.

The solar panels complement wind generation to provide electricity across different weather conditions and times of the day.

According to the development team, approximately 90 per cent of the system's components are designed and manufactured in Ghana, with only specialised components such as rare-earth magnets, weather stations and hybrid controllers imported.

The system is designed to operate without lubricants or oil, with routine maintenance largely involving system checks and cleaning of the solar panels.

Amo-Aye developed the technology after growing up in an Accra suburb where frequent power outages exposed the limitations of conventional electricity supply.

Working with co-founder and public health expert Elizabeth Onireti, he sought to develop an energy solution that would address the needs of rural communities while reducing dependence on diesel generators.

MINAGIE Energy says the Fusion Wind Turbine has so far been installed at two rural health centres in Ghana's Eastern Region, serving an estimated catchment population of about 850 people.

The company says the installations have replaced diesel generators, saving approximately $500 monthly in fuel costs while providing electricity for lighting and refrigeration.

Amo-Aye has cited an incident in 2024 involving a midwife who had to deliver a baby during a community-wide power outage using mobile phone torches.

He said poor lighting contributed to warning signs being missed and the baby subsequently dying.

According to him, the same mother later returned to deliver another child in a well-lit ward with functioning equipment, illustrating the difference reliable electricity can make to healthcare delivery.

The project has also received support from UNICEF Ghana's UNICEF Scale-Up Fund.

MINAGIE Energy is now looking to expand deployment of the technology across rural Ghana.

The company plans to install 25 turbines and train 25 technicians in 2026, followed by an expansion to 60 turbines and five operational hubs in 2027.

By 2028, it hopes to have deployed more than 100 turbines and established 10 hubs, while also introducing carbon credit monetisation.

Amo-Aye says affordability remains a major obstacle to expansion because of the high upfront cost of the equipment and the financial support communities may need to transition from diesel-powered systems.

While Amo-Aye received the audience-voted One-to-Watch Award, the main £50,000 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation went to Nigerien innovator Mamane Kabirou Ousseini for his medical monitoring platform, Likita Care.

The platform combines connected medical devices, clinical software and local digital manufacturing to support patient, cardiac and prenatal monitoring.

Its embedded artificial intelligence module helps interpret vital signs in real time, while a central dashboard allows healthcare workers to monitor multiple patients.

More than 70 monitoring units have been produced and deployed across five medical centres in Niger, following testing involving more than 100 patients and more than 4,000 data points.

Ousseini plans to use the prize money to commercialise the platform in Niger and prepare for expansion into other West African markets.

Three other innovators received £10,000 each as runners-up: South Africa's Dyllon Randall for Pee-Cycling, a urine-to-fertiliser recovery system, and Kenya's Alice Muhuhu for MoyoECG, a portable heart monitoring device, and Naom Monari for Renal Roads, a mobile dialysis clinic.

The four finalists were selected from a cohort of 16 entrepreneurs who completed an eight-month training and mentoring programme organised by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

The Africa Prize is delivered by the Royal Academy of Engineering and part-funded by the UK Government's International Science Partnerships Fund.