From winning in Singapore to representing the nation on the Asia stage, EtaVolt takes home the Grand Winner and SDEC Awards for its solar panel regeneration and recycling solutions.
EtaVolt is proud to have been named the Grand Winner of TECH PLANTER Asia Final 2026, held on 27 August 2026 at MRANTI Innovation Park in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We were also honoured to receive the Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC) Award, marking another significant milestone in our journey to build a more circular future for solar energy.
From Singapore to the Asia stage
Back in May, EtaVolt participated in TECH PLANTER Singapore 2026, organised by Leave a Nest Singapore at the Singapore Institute of Technology.
Competing alongside Singapore’s emerging deep-tech innovators, we presented our vision for addressing an increasingly important challenge within the renewable energy industry: how we can extend the useful life of existing solar assets while creating more sustainable pathways for solar panels as they approach end of life.
EtaVolt emerged as the Grand Winner of TECH PLANTER Singapore 2026, earning the opportunity to represent Singapore at the TECH PLANTER Asia Final. We also received the Taisei Corporation Award at the Singapore competition.
That win was not simply a ticket to the next competition. It gave our team another reason to keep improving.
Over the months that followed, we continued developing our solutions, refining our approach and strengthening how we communicate the bigger vision behind EtaVolt.
Taking our vision to Asia
Three months later, we arrived in Kuala Lumpur to compete at the TECH PLANTER Asia Final 2026, bringing together 14 deep-tech teams from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan. The finalists presented technologies addressing challenges across areas including clean energy, sustainability, biotechnology, AI and industrial digitalisation.
For us, it was an opportunity to show not only what EtaVolt had achieved, but also how much we had grown since that first stage in Singapore.
Our presentation focused on EtaVolt’s solar panel regeneration and recycling ecosystem, which aims to extend the lifespan and value of solar panels while addressing the growing challenge of declining solar performance and end-of-life solar waste.
The judges recognised the innovation, scalability and potential for wider adoption of our approach, naming EtaVolt the Grand Winner of TECH PLANTER Asia Final 2026.
We were also honoured to receive the SDEC Award, recognising the alignment of our work with SDEC’s goal of supporting the commercialisation of research.
More than an award
Winning two awards on the Asia stage is something our entire team is incredibly proud of, but what makes this moment especially meaningful is the journey behind it.
From presenting our ideas in Singapore in May to representing Singapore in Malaysia in August, we have had the opportunity to challenge ourselves, learn from others and continue developing what EtaVolt can become.
Most importantly, the recognition reinforces our belief that the solar industry’s sustainability journey should not end once a panel has been installed.
As solar deployment continues to grow around the world, there is an increasing need to think about the entire lifecycle of these assets, from maintaining performance and extending their useful life to finding responsible pathways when they eventually reach end of life.
This is the circular solar ecosystem EtaVolt is working towards.
The journey continues
As part of the Grand Winner recognition, EtaVolt received a MYR 10,000 prize and an invitation to present at the Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference in Tokyo, giving us another opportunity to bring our solutions and vision to an international audience. The SDEC Award also came with a MYR 4,000 prize.
We are deeply grateful to Leave a Nest, the TECH PLANTER organisers, SDEC, the judges, partners and everyone who has supported us throughout this journey. The opportunities, feedback and trust we have received continue to push us to innovate, improve and turn our technologies into meaningful real-world impact.
From Singapore to Malaysia, and next to Tokyo, we are excited to see where this journey takes us.