UK Government Backs African 'Solar Energy Revolution'

Grant Shapps predicts falling cost of solar panels could provide answer to lack of energy access in sub-Saharan Africa

The UK government has vowed to play a leading role in delivering a "solar revolution" across Africa, arguing the technology has the potential to transform energy access across the continent.

Speaking at a meeting with African leaders, investors, and business executives in at the UN in New York yesterday, International Development Minister Grant Shapps said the UK was keen to push the development of Africa's nascent solar market up the political agenda.

"Across Africa, a lack of clean and reliable power is holding back an entire continent," he said. "The decreasing cost of solar panels, better and more efficient technology and the spread of simple mobile payment schemes give us a clear opportunity to solve this. I have seen for myself how solar energy can transform lives. People can continue their jobs or school work after the sun goes down, businesses can expand and families do not have to rely on kerosene or charcoal cookers which fill houses with poisonous fumes."

He added that the onus was now on governments, businesses, and aid agencies to "tear down regulatory barriers, attract new finance and ignite a solar revolution across Africa", promising that "Britain will play a leading role in making this a reality".

A number of leading UK renewable energy firms are targeting the fast-expanding African solar market and Shapps stressed that supporting the development of the sector was "not only the right thing to do, it is also firmly in the UK's own national interest as we create a more prosperous and safer world for us all".

The New York meeting followed this weekend's ratification of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, which include a commitment to deliver sustainable energy for all by 2030. It also acts as a fore-runner for a G20 Conference on Energy Access in Sub-Saharan Africa this week, where Shapps will again make the case for solar playing a central role in the expansion of the African energy industry.

The latest commitment comes just days after the UK government pledged to double the level of climate funding it offers to poorer nations to £5.8bn between 2016 and 2021.

However, the backing for a "solar revolution" overseas may prompt raised eyebrows in the UK solar industry, as the sector continues to warn controversial government plans to slash solar energy subsidies will lead to job losses and sharp slowdown in the rate of solar deployment in the UK.