This year, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) organised the fourth edition of IRENA NewGen Renewable Energy Accelerator (NewGen) programme. The programme is supported by the Government of the United Arab Emirates and implemented with Enel Foundation (a global non-profit organisation focused on knowledge sharing to drive a clean energy future) and Social Alpha (a non-profit organisation based in India that supports social start-ups) as knowledge partners.
Launched in 2023, the programme supports young innovators and entrepreneurs from around the world who work on advancing clean energy technologies for the betterment of their communities. The IRENA NewGen 2026 reflects the Agency's broader mission to empower youth and position their innovations at the heart of the global energy transition.
NewGen 2026 saw the participation of nineteen start-ups, of which nine are women-led, tackling urgent energy and climate challenges across emerging markets. Following the pitches held on 17 September 2026, four start-ups have been selected as winners of the IRENA Rising Stars Youth Award 2026.
As this year's Awardees, they will receive in-kind and exposure prizes to support the development and scaling of their clean energy solutions. The four winners are:
First Place: Aunkur AI - Bangladesh/United States of America
The company provides small farmers in developing countries with analytics that can support their decision-making in their farming activities. Around six hundred million farmers are smallholders and mostly reside in the Global South. Despite being among the first to suffer from climate change, these farmers often lack access to the right tools, data, and technology that offer precise agricultural insights. The solution offered by Aunkur AI combines solar-powered soil testing device; solar-powered portable weather station for real-time data; unified point of service using smart application; as well as artificial intelligence (AI)-driven decision support engine which also allows access to finance. The solution has reached more than 33,000 farmers including around 8,000 paying users, with 34% women participation. By empowering small farmers with improved agronomy and ecosystem access, Aunkur Ai has supported up to 15% higher yields, 42% higher profitability for farmers, 25% lower fertiliser use, and an average 4.3% reduction in CO emissions per acre per year.
Commenting on their NewGen experience, the team says, "The IRENA NewGen Accelerator gave us valuable insight into the Gulf region markets and reinforced our belief that clean energy can be a practical tool for farmers empowerment reducing irrigation costs, improving access to water, and strengthening farm productivity. Becoming a winner inspires us to take these solutions further across the region."
Joint Second Place: Enlog - India
Enlog is a technology startup offering new-age energy management through energy intelligence. By optimising energy use, the company's system cuts 20-25% of businesses' electricity consumption without manual intervention while aligning demand with renewable power availability and grid conditions. Currently managing a portfolio of more than 30 gigawatt-hour across hotels, hospitals, retail chains, and commercial buildings, Enlog reduces approximately 5,500 tonnes of indirect greenhouse gas emissions every month. The company has expanded its technology and extended energy intelligence to mid-sized properties often underserved by conventional building management systems.
Asked what IRENA NewGen means to them, the Enlog team says, "NewGen gave us a broader perspective on where our technology fits within the energy transition, while bringing us into a community of founders through peer learning, industry experts, and institutions that challenged and sharpened our thinking."
Joint Second Place: MVUTU (GreenBox ) - Republic of the Congo
MVUTU's GreenBox is an agricultural technology startup that offers decentralised, solar-powered smart cold-chain infrastructure for smallholder farmers, fishermen, food traders, and businesses in developing countries, to reduce their post-harvest food loss and boost food security. The cold infrastructure combines solar refrigeration, thermal energy storage, smart monitoring, and digital market intelligence through a cooling-as-a-service model. Today, GreenBox has preserved more than 20,400 tonnes of perishable food from spoilage, reducing post-harvest losses by up to 90% while helping over 1,500 smallholder farmers and retailers increase their incomes by approximately 50%. In addition, each solar-powered cold storage unit reduces up to 16.5 tonnes of CO2 emissions every month. To date, the company has mentored and trained 1,500 rural women and youth in the field of renewable energy, teaching them how to use, maintain, and repair equipment like the GreenBox . As a result, eight women have been hired for operator jobs.
"The NewGen gave us an invaluable opportunity to refine our vision, learn from a diverse community of young innovators and strengthen our approach to scaling GreenBox . Receiving the Rising Stars Award is a powerful recognition of our team's journey and motivates us to accelerate our work toward affordable, renewable-energy-powered cold-chain infrastructure for underserved communities across Africa," says founder Divin Kouebatouka.
Third Place: YY ReGen - Lebanon
YY ReGen delivers portable and affordable solar-powered sustainable farming solutions. Their mobile solar-powered solution named ReGen-R8 is designed for farmers and cooperatives in off-grid and rural areas to replace costly and polluting diesel generators for irrigation and cold storage. Under its pay-as-you-go energy-as-a-service model, the company installs and operates the units, enabling farmers, cooperatives, as well as small and medium agri-enterprises to access reliable clean energy without upfront costs. With ten fully utilised units in operation and 15 additional units being produced by the end of 2026, the company is expanding its impact across Lebanon while testing the Egyptian and Iraqi markets as the first step of a wider roll-out of its energy-as-a-service model across the region.
Co-founder Hasan Jafar says, "Participating in the IRENA NewGen Accelerator has been an invaluable journey, giving us the opportunity to strengthen our business, connect with a global community of innovators, and further scale our vision for clean energy in agriculture. Receiving the Rising Stars Award is an important milestone for YY ReGen and motivates us to continue expanding our impact across Lebanon and the wider MENA region."
Virtually welcoming the participating entrepreneurs during the pitch, IRENA Deputy Director-General Gauri Singh highlighted the Agency's role, saying "We know that entrepreneurship is not an easy journey. Young innovators have to navigate complex markets, funding constraints, and regulatory challenges as they work to scale their solutions. IRENA's role is not only to recognise promising solutions, but also to mobilise its network and partners to help open doors and opportunities for them to grow."
On behalf of the United Arab Emirates as the programme's main supporter, Dr. Nawal Al-Hosany, Permanent Representative to IRENA addressed the young innovators, "The UAE firmly believes that young innovators are not simply the leaders of tomorrow, they are already driving change today. Your ideas, your ambition and your determination can help develop practical solutions that strengthen renewable energy and energy efficiency ecosystems in your countries and across the world."
Read more about IRENA's engagement with the global youth here.
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