Solar power is taking off in Africa

Noor solar power plant, Morocco

Uptake of solar in Africa shows the continent is entering the global solar revolution. Solar panel imports from China, the world’s dominant producer, rose 60% in the 12 months through June 2025, reaching a record 15 gigawatts, according to an analysis by the energy think tank Ember. The increase offers the first evidence that solar power is beginning to spread beyond a handful of early-adopting countries and across the continent.

The growth is striking. Twenty African countries recorded their highest-ever imports of solar panels during the period, while the number importing at least 100 megawatts rose to 25, from 15 a year earlier. Nigeria became the continent’s second-largest importer, bringing in about 1.7 gigawatts, while Algeria ranked third with nearly 1.2 gigawatts. Imports also surged in countries including Zambia, Botswana and Sudan, where shipments increased severalfold.

The appeal of solar is partly economic and partly practical. Across much of Africa, unreliable electricity supplies have forced businesses and households to depend on polluting diesel generators, an expensive substitute for a functioning grid. In Nigeria, Ember estimates that the fuel savings from replacing diesel with solar can repay the cost of a solar panel in roughly six months. In nine of the continent’s 10 largest solar importers, the value of refined petroleum imports is between 30 and 107 times greater than the value of solar-panel imports.

If all the panels imported during the past year were installed and operated, they could add electricity equivalent to more than 5% of current reported annual generation in 16 African countries. In Sierra Leone, the potential increase would be equivalent to 61% of the country’s 2023 electricity generation; in Chad, it would approach half. The figures illustrate how quickly relatively small-scale solar investments could begin to reshape electricity systems that have long struggled to provide reliable power.

But the import figures come with an important qualification: panels arriving in Africa are not necessarily panels being installed. Some may be stored, re-exported or diverted elsewhere, and comprehensive installation data will not be available for some time. Africa’s growth also remains modest compared with the solar boom in Pakistan, where solar imports in the same period exceeded those of the entire African continent despite Pakistan having only about one-sixth of Africa’s population.

Ember says the evidence of an African boom is growing quickly. Ember analysts say the acceleration is at a pivotal moment for a continent with enormous solar resources and persistent electricity shortages. The challenge now is to track where the panels are being installed and ensure that grids, financing and policy keep pace.

Globally, eight countries now generate over 98% to 100% of their electricity from renewable sources including Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bhutan, Nepal, Paraguay and Norway according to RatedPower. The concentrated Noor solar power plant in Morocco is now the largest in the world stretching over nearly 500 hectares and producing enough energy to power more than a million homes.

Africa's solar transition, the analysis suggests, may have begun not with a single giant power project, but with millions of panels quietly entering countries where dependable electricity has long been in short supply. Internationally, this is an important milestone.

Read the full report from Ember here.