Africa Records Fastest Solar Growth in 2025, Installations Surge 54% YoY
Representational image. Credit: Canva
Developed in collaboration with African member associations and supported by GET.invest and Octopus Energy, the report highlights Africa’s accelerating shift toward a dual-track solar transition — combining large-scale, grid-connected projects backed by public and development finance with rapidly expanding privately financed rooftop, commercial, and distributed solar systems.
“Solar plus storage is the hope of Africa. This technology can deliver energy access, sustainable development, green growth, and climate resilience,” said Sonia Dunlop, CEO, Global Solar Council.
Broader Market Participation Drives Growth
The report reveals that Africa’s solar deployment is expanding beyond a handful of early adopters, reflecting growing diversification and market resilience. In 2025, eight African countries surpassed the 100 MW annual installation mark, doubling from four in 2024, while several emerging markets recorded strong growth.
South Africa led installations with 1.6 GW, followed by Nigeria (803 MW), Egypt (500 MW), and Algeria (400 MW). Strong contributions were also reported from Morocco (204 MW), Zambia (139 MW), Tunisia (120 MW), Botswana (120 MW), Ghana (92 MW), and Chad (86 MW), highlighting rising momentum across both established and emerging solar markets.
While utility-scale projects accounted for 56% of installed capacity, distributed solar — estimated at 44% — remains significantly underreported, indicating rapid expansion in rooftop, commercial, and off-grid deployments across the continent.
Imports Highlight Scale of Distributed Solar Boom
Africa imported 18.2 GW of solar modules in 2025, substantially exceeding projected utility-scale installations for the next two years combined. This gap underscores the growing dominance of distributed and consumer-led solar systems, driven by rising electricity demand, falling technology costs, and increasing energy access needs.
Looking ahead, the report projects a 21% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2029, positioning Africa as one of the world’s fastest-growing solar markets.
“Africa’s solar boom demonstrates how quickly clean energy can scale when ambition, demand, and innovation align,” said Zoisa North-Bond, CEO, Octopus Energy Generation.
Financing Systems Must Evolve
Despite strong momentum, the report finds that Africa’s clean energy financing ecosystem remains heavily skewed toward utility-scale projects, with 82% of funding sourced from public and development finance.
While private clean energy investment nearly doubled from USD 17 billion in 2019 to USD 40 billion in 2024, financing structures remain poorly suited to distributed solar projects, which require smaller ticket sizes, shorter tenors, and local currency funding. This financing gap continues to constrain growth in the rapidly expanding rooftop and commercial solar segments.
Africa Could Install Over 33 GW by 2029
The report forecasts that Africa could deploy more than 33 GW of solar capacity by 2029 — over six times the capacity added in 2025 — provided policy, regulatory, and financing frameworks evolve to support both utility-scale and distributed solar deployment.
“With Africa’s energy demand expected to grow eight-fold by 2050 and the continent holding 60% of the world’s best solar resources, solar paired with storage is critical to deliver affordable, reliable power at scale,” said Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and UN Special Representative for Sustainable Energy for All.
To unlock this opportunity, the Global Solar Council has called for distributed-solar-friendly financing models, improved market data collection, accelerated investments in grids and storage, and stable policy frameworks to enable long-term growth.