Follow Us on Google
By Adewale Sanyaolu
Nigeria is missing on the list of countries with growing demand for solar installations, a new report on Africa solar outlook 2025 has revealed.
The report which provides key insights into the trends, opportunities, and challenges shaping Africa’s solar energy future was launched at Powerelec Nigeria International Trade Fair and Conference on Solar, Renewable, Storage, Power and Electrical Industry in Lagos, at the weekend.
On the prevalence of solar in the overall national power generation, the report indicated that the Central African Republic still leads the ranking of countries where solar contributes the most to the overall electricity mix, with more than 40 per cent of all grid electricity consumed in the country originating from solar.
The report added that another six African countries already have solar contribute more than 10 per cent of their power consumption, which is a remarkable performance at global level.
The countries are: Mauritania (20.7 per cent ), Namibia (13.4 per cent), Somalia (11.6 per cent), Malawi (11.4 per cent) The Gambia (10.6 per cent) and Cape Verde (10.5 per cent).
“In terms of solar per capita, the 2024 top five remains almost unchanged. Wealthy islands Seychelles, Mauritius and Cape Verde are joined by African solar champions South Africa and Namibia. In the overall ranking, The Gambia lands at No 16 and is the country that progresses the most (+25 spots) thanks to the commissioning of its 23 MWp Jambur Solar Plant Solar.
Solar installations have reached new heights across the globe in 2024with a whopping 503 GWp of estimated capacity. This represents a 44 per cent increase compared to 2023. In Africa, the growth is more modest but new installations maintain a solid level at 2.5 GWp after 2022 and 2023 being record years for solar in Africa.
Thanks to new solar installations, Africa is now home to 19.2 GWp (excluding residential installations). This is the 3rd year in a row that more than 2 GWp are being installed, which is testament to the good health of the industry. But solar in Africa did however not grow as much as the global solar market and still represents less than one per cent of all solar currently installed across the globe,’’.
Solar continues to spread across Africa
The report added that as solar continues to spread across Africa, more and more African nations are adopting solar in their energy mix, with some already installing massively, while other are making their first steps with solar.
“In 2024, two African nations installed more than 100 MW (one more than 2023), 16 installed more than 10 MW (stable) and 29 installed at least 1 MW (2 more than 2023). The best performers in terms of installed capacity include South Africa with an estimated 1,235 MWp, Egypt with 707 MWp, Zambia with 74.8 MWp, Nigeria with 63.5 MWp and Angola with 53.8 MWp.
All these figures exclude residential installations as these are currently not tracked by AFSIA. It is estimated that these residential installations could represent 10 to 20 per cent additional capacity.
But while solar conquers more African countries, the business nevertheless remains highly concentrated. In 2024, South Africa and Egypt represented almost 80 per cent of all the new solar installed, respectively, representing 50 and 29 per cent. But with multiple projects already announced and at various stages of development in several countries that are new to solar, we may witness a more distributed spread of solar in Africa in the years to come,”
Another key element of the report is the boom in storage, which indicated that solar is becoming a key element of the African solar eco-system.
“From 2017 to 2022, storage in Africa represented on average only around 50 MWh per annum. In 2023, this capacity grew to 150 MWh+ and in 2024, it grew to more than 1,600 MWh.
This exponential growth is to thank to sharply decreasing prices for lithium-ion storage solutions. Industry-leading research firm Bloomberg NEF estimates that the cost of such storage has decreased by 20 per cent in 2024, after decreasing 13 per cent in 2023. This is the strongest price decrease in the last seven years,’’.
According to the report, the reason behind this significant decrease is a combination of production overcapacity and heightened competition between manufacturers, stressing that several gigawatt factories were put online across the globe in recent years to address the expected boom of electric mobility.
These investments, the report noted, also benefit the market of stationary storage thanks to the economies of scale they have created and because electric vehicles sales have not delivered as promised, production overcapacity has added an element of intense price competition between manufacturers.
