Africa’s solar market is now the fastest‑growing in the world, with record installations in 2025 and a wave of new utility‑scale and distributed projects positioning the continent as a central player in the global clean energy transition.​

Global context

• Global solar capacity additions reached an estimated 618 GW in 2025, with installed capacity up 23% year‑on‑year and renewables on track—though not guaranteed—to meet 2030 tripling targets if a 12% annual growth rate is maintained.​

• Renewables overtook coal in the global power generation mix for the first time in 2025, with solar and wind meeting 109% of the increase in electricity demand in the first half of the year.​

Africa’s record 2025 growth

• Africa’s annual installed and imported solar capacity surged to roughly 14.8 GW in 2025, giving the continent the highest growth rate of any region in the world that year and placing it in the global top three for post‑COVID expansion.​

• Cumulative identified solar capacity in Africa climbed to about 23.4 GW by 2025, although additional commercial and industrial systems not fully captured in official statistics mean the real total is higher.​

Economics of solar and storage

• Utility‑scale solar in many African markets now competes directly with or undercuts grid and diesel power, with levelized costs around 43 USD/MWh for daytime solar.​

• Adding batteries to shift half of that output to evening peaks raises the cost to about 76 USD/MWh, meaning storage adds only about 33 USD/MWh and makes dispatchable solar economically viable for African grids and large C&I users.​

Country winners and laggards

• On a watts‑per‑capita basis, South Africa, Seychelles, Mauritius and Namibia sit at the top of the African solar league table, while Comoros, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Angola form a fast‑rising second tier.​

• When Chinese export data is used to adjust the statistics, countries such as Namibia, South Africa, Tunisia, Algeria and Kenya emerge as even stronger solar leaders, highlighting under‑reported capacity in standard datasets.​

Policy, tariffs and opportunity

• Many African states now apply reduced or zero import duties and VAT to solar equipment, with several also introducing feed‑in tariffs, wheeling frameworks or net‑metering schemes to accelerate deployment.​

• Electricity tariffs remain high for businesses and households in a large number of markets, creating a strong commercial case for PV‑plus‑battery solutions and supporting investor interest in both grid‑connected and off‑grid solar across the continent.​