African countries maintained a brisk pace of solar power installation last year and the sector looks set to keep growing in 2025, according to a new industry report.
The Global Solar Council estimated that the continent added 2.4GW of solar generation capacity in 2024, slightly less than the year before, which it blamed on the slackening rate of installations in South Africa after a bumper year in 2023.
The industry lobby group, in a report published on Wednesday, predicted 42% growth in new installations in 2025, in part because it expects several important projects that were delayed in 2024 to be brought online this year.
“Africa is expected to cumulatively install 23GW of new solar capacity between 2025 to 2028, more than doubling its 2024 cumulative installed capacity in only four years,” it said, arguing that fuel price swings and costly electricity make solar a good option for the region.
While South Africa and Egypt are the largest markets, there’s also been rapid growth in West Africa, with Ghana nearly quadrupling its installations to 94MW of solar power. Burkina Faso grew its solar by more than 120% last year to 87MW, while Nigeria installed about 73MW, according to the council.
“Many African countries continue to face electricity shortages and frequent power outages, pushing businesses and households towards solar as a reliable alternative,” it noted.
Capital costs
Analysts separately said that US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from climate action, including pulling out of a major initiative to spur the transition to green energy in countries including South Africa, won’t derail billions of dollars of climate projects.
Even so, Africa’s solar expansion is being held back by capital costs that are about seven times higher than in developed countries. Africa still accounts for just 3% of global energy investment, the GSC report found.
Read: Solar-powered Tesla criss-crossing South Africa – pix
“Many projects are struggling to secure financing because of high interest rates, currency risks and lack of guarantees,” said Léo Echard, policy officer at GSC and lead author on the report. “If we can reduce the cost of capital, Africa could become one of the fastest-growing solar markets in the world.” — Ruth Olurounbi, (c) 2025 Bloomberg LP
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