15-year-old Azerbaijani entrepreneur plans to harvest energy from rainwater

Ninth grade student of experimental pilot classes at Zarifa Aliyeva lyceum (“İstək” lyceum) Reyhan Jamalova stole the show at the 8th Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in India with her initiative to make energy from rainwater.

US President Donald Trump’s daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump in her speech at the inaugural session hailed 15-year-old Reyhan Jamalova`s efforts. “Reyhan is 15 years old. But that hasn’t stopped her from founding a company that harvests energy from rainwater,” Ivanka Trump said.

“Reyhan has a powerful motto - Light up one house at a time. Reyhan, each home you light up is illuminating the world. We are all inspired by your brilliance and hard work,” she added.

“During the precipitation billions of gallons of the rainwater occurs over the world. Rainwater has huge potential if utilized properly,” said Reyhan Jamalova.

“The initial prototype of Rainergy produces 22W of power and lightens up to 22 LED lamps. While piezoelectric rain generators produce only 25 microwatt of power, our model is much more efficient in comparison with similar systems,” she said.

“It also stores energy in the accumulator so that it can be used even there is no rain at all.”

Reyhan Jamalova said that rain energy reduces the amount of CO2 emissions to 10g per KW/hour during the production of the electricity. “This amount is very low compared to the other current alternative energy solutions,” she added.

The Global Entrepreneurship Summit is the preeminent annual entrepreneurship gathering that convenes emerging entrepreneurs, investors and supporters from around the world. This year’s Summit highlighted the theme Women First, Prosperity for All, and focused on supporting women entrepreneurs and fostering economic growth globally.

Reyhan Jamalova and her mentor Leyla Tagizade participated in this year`s summit through partnership with the US Embassy in Baku.