Luiz Gabriel Azevedo, Jean-Étienne Klimpt and Dr Helen Locher have been announced at the winners of the 2015 Mosonyi Award for Excellence in Hydropower.

The award recognises outstanding contributions to the hydropower sector.

Mr Azevedo and Dr Locher were presented with the award by IHA president Ken Adams at the opening banquet of the 2015 World Hydropower Congress in Beijing, China. Mr Klimpt was unable to attend the event.

Mr Azevedo has been involved with infrastructure development and environmental management projects in some 30 countries.

On presenting the award, Mr Adams paid tribute to Mr Azevedo’s “consistent commitment to sustainable hydropower” through the many diverse organisations he has worked for, including WWF, the World Bank and Odebrecht (where he is now working).

Helen has 25 years’ experience working on environmental, social and sustainability issues in many contexts. She is currently principal consultant for sustainability at Hydro Tasmania. Mr Adams spoke of her “instrumental role in the creation of the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol”. You can find out more about the protocol, which is a tool for measuring the sustainability of hydropower projects, here.

In the absence of Mr Klimpt – a former employee of Hydro-Québec – Mr Adams said that he had a “key role in the development of IHA in special subjects related to sustainability and the development of sustainability guidelines.

The award is named after Emil Mosonyi, the founding president of the International Hydropower Association. Prof Mosonyi, who passed away in 2009 aged 98, made major contributions to hydropower during his long career.