From Business Green.

The U.K. 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 at the U.N. in New York yesterday, International Development Minister Grant Shapps said the U.K. 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 U.K. 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 U.K.’s own national interest as we create a more prosperous and safer world for us all.”

Read more at Business Green.