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Bodies from the UK government and the United Nations are partnering on improving access to solar in Uganda, where 70% of the population has no electricity.

The platform will look to grow off-grid energy service companies spanning solar home systems, large solar, and metering applications such as pumps and mini-grids.

Driven by steep cost declines in PV equipment, solar is now almost on a par with wind energy and will soon become the cheapest form of energy in developing nations, according to the Climatescope 2016 report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).

India’s Ministry of new and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is moving forward with its off-grid solar programme, as part of the National Solar Mission (NSM), after a year of the utility-scale sector stealing the limelight.

Remote schools in West Africa can suffer from high levels of dropouts, a lack of enthusiasm and low rates of literacy and numeracy, but solar technology is now offering a chance to reinvigorate some of the lowest performing schools. PV Tech visited a school that is benefiting from such solar and software installations in the Greater Accra region of Ghana.

A glut of solar-based products failing across Nigeria has been caused by a lack of clarity around ownership and alleged cases of corruption, according to member of the World Energy Council (WEC).

One in three off-grid households worldwide will use solar products by 2020, according to a new report from the World Bank and Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).

Solar in West Africa may have been slow to kick off, but the last year has seen notable deployment across the region. Mahama Kappiah, executive director of the West Africa's Regional Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency discusses what potential solar has to revolutionise the energy sector in a region that suffers from severe power deficits.