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Topping off a great week for the British next generation utility platform, BBOXX won the Zayed Energy Prize after receiving funding from the Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers fund to speed up roll out of its platform in Rwanda, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Italian government has published a plan for climate and energy envisaging a central role for solar in the nation’s energy mix, with PV expected to represent more than the half the power generation capacity from renewables by the end of the next decade.

In Prémian, southern France, a blockchain project developed by Sunchain is providing six consumers with solar power and certifying transactions – which also involve local distribution system operator Enedis.

According to figures from solar association ABSolar, most of the installed capacity – 371.9 MW – was installed in 2018. Commercial PV dominates with 43.2% as cheaper modules and higher electricity tariffs, combined with an extensive net metering regime, continue to fuel installation rates.

The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has proposed a replacement for the flat rate FIT payment regime that is hard to argue with, as it is linked to the actual amount of electricity exported back into the grid.

Of that colossal sum, 350 GW would be for solar. India currently has installed renewable energy capacity of 75 GW with a further 46 GW under implementation.

Consumer- and municipally-owned energy systems are lauded as key elements of the energy transition. However, their market design in many regions is still prohibitively complex. The European Committee of the Regions has presented a policy recommendation to address these issues, and enable a just and democratic energy transition.

The World Bank and the Kenyan Government have announced a new strategy for attaining universal energy access for Kenyans by 2022. The plan underlines the importance of off-grid solar installations in reaching that goal. The investment opportunities for the coming five years are around US$14 billion.

Political bloc wants to source at least 32% of energy from renewable generation by 2030 and signed off on the more ambitious target as a statement of intent during the first week of the Katowice climate change conference.

In an advisory requested by Argentinian hosts, agency reports on the role solar can play in firing the energy transition up to 2050 – but was anybody listening?