By Kari Williamson

International Energy Agency's Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (IEA SHC) Chairman Werner Weiss congratulates Ming, saying: “Huang Ming really deserves this award.

"He has been a driver of solar heating and cooling in China and beyond. And it is not by accident that he has built one the largest solar thermal companies in the world."

The Right Livelihood Award Foundation has announced four laureates of this year's award , and Ming receives the 2011 Honorary Award "for his outstanding success in the development and mass-deployment of cutting-edge technologies for harnessing solar energy, thereby showing how dynamic emerging economies can contribute to resolving the global crisis of anthropogenic climate change."

It is the first time that a Right Livelihood Award goes to China.