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The political statements issued by the Conservatives, Labour, the Lib Dems and even the Green Party almost entirely ignore solar power amid a welter of vague ambitions ahead of the December vote. The increasingly obvious effects of climate change have clearly entered the consciousness of voters, though – the net zero commitment even got as high as page 55 of the Conservatives’ 62-page document.

Innoenergy’s recent conference in Berlin repeated the argument financing renewable energy projects in Africa remains a struggle, however it also showcased some hopeful case studies.

Dutch gas and power provider Essent has agreed to buy the Amsterdam-based renewables marketplace for an undisclosed sum. Vandebron sells electricity aggregated from wind, solar and biomass projects.

A project on Isabela Island in Ecuador’s Galapagos archipelago has given its 3,500 inhabitants energy generated by local resources, including plant oil produced on the continent. Preferable to a logistically challenging and hyper expensive extension of the mainland grid, if the $13 million island system were installed today, it would be cheaper than when it was contracted four years ago.

WEnergy was celebrating the commissioning of its solar-diesel-storage off-grid network on the island of Palawan. Four more networks could come online within two years, said the developer, as part of a planned 15 microgrids in the nation.

The microgrid utility has raised enough capital from Shell New Energies to deploy systems across sub-Saharan Africa.

The local authority is seeking proposals to build mini-grids with generation capacities of more than 5 kW to power hospitals, markets, water pumping and street lighting. The council has expressed a strong preference for the build, operate and transfer project development model.

Where seasonal storage is paramount, hydrogen comes into play. Under-the-radar solar market Sweden has presented its hydrogen projects and technological solutions to overcome the country’s natural solar barriers.

PV manufacturers receive 10% of the value of their exported products as an incentive and the nation’s central bank has extended the program to cover this financial year. Bangladesh’s solar manufacturers have called for more, however, and point to more generous schemes to the west.

The regulations will come into effect on January 1 and will improve upon the regime introduced in 2014. The new provisions will for the first time provide a legislative framework for energy communities and storage deployment.