Ghana, Malawi and Rwanda have joined the campaign, taking the total number of African nations working with the UK’s Department for International Development on the campaign to six.

International development minister Nick Hurd said it was “unacceptable” that two-thirds of Africans currently do not have access to electricity, with current projections estimating the continent will not have universal access until 2080.

With solar technology improving and its costs falling, Hurd said now was the time to kick start “a solar revolution” across Africa. He added that he was delighted the UK and its new partners would be working together to “transform peoples’ lives”.

Hurd signed the deals on Wednesday with the Ghanian minister of power, Kwabena Donkor, the president of Malawi, Arther Peter Matharika and minister of resources, energy and mining, Bright Msaka, and Rwanda’s minister of infrastructure James Musoni at The Global African Investment Summit in London.

They join Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Somalia, who have already signed up to the campaign.

DFID has also launched a £17m programme to improve education in Ghana by improving teacher training, reforming the curriculum and improving governance in the country’s colleges.

Ghana has committed to ensuring the country has 35,000 well-trained teachers around the country over the next four years.