Africa added 11.3 gigawatts of new renewable energy capacity in 2025 C.E. — nearly three times the 4.2 gigawatts installed the year before — marking one of the continent’s sharpest clean energy surges on record, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. The leap signals that Africa is no longer waiting at the margins of the global energy transition but pushing toward its center.
At a glance
- Renewable energy capacity: African nations added 11.3 gigawatts of new renewable capacity in 2025 C.E., nearly triple the 4.2 gigawatts added in 2024 C.E., per the International Renewable Energy Agency.
- Solar installations: Of 322 energy projects announced across Africa in 2025 C.E., 253 were renewables — including 173 solar projects — compared to just 22 new natural gas projects, according to research firm Electron Intelligence.
- Clean energy financing: Borrowing costs for renewable projects in African countries run up to three times higher than in wealthy nations, a structural gap that analysts say is now the continent’s primary obstacle to faster growth.
Why this moment is different
For years, Africa’s vast renewable potential — some of the world’s strongest solar irradiance, substantial wind corridors, and significant geothermal resources — sat largely untapped. The economics simply didn’t add up for most project developers and governments navigating tight budgets and scarce financing.
That calculation has now shifted. Mugwe Manga, climate finance lead at FSD Kenya, put it plainly to the Associated Press: “Africa is not on the periphery of the global energy transition, it is sitting at its center. The continent holds the world’s best renewable resources, and the economics have now decisively turned in favor of clean energy.”
The scale of the 2025 C.E. buildout reflects that shift in real terms. Solar alone accounted for 173 of the 253 renewable projects announced last year — a signal that falling panel and battery costs are translating into actual project pipelines, not just policy ambitions.
Fossil fuels still in the picture
The surge in clean energy doesn’t mean a clean break from fossil fuels. The East African Crude Oil Pipeline — known as EACOP — continues to advance. When complete, it will carry crude oil roughly 900 miles from Uganda’s Great Lakes region to the Tanzanian coast.
The pipeline has drawn sustained opposition from campaigners who say it threatens freshwater sources and wildlife. TotalEnergies, its primary backer, has faced allegations of coercion and intimidation of families living along the pipeline route. A satellite imagery analysis by watchdog group Earth Insight found the pipeline is nearly complete, though key river crossings remain unfinished. Opponents say time is running short to prevent lasting harm.
Just 22 natural gas projects were announced across Africa in 2025 C.E., a steep drop relative to renewables — but the continent’s energy transition is not yet linear.
The financing gap that remains
The single largest barrier to accelerating Africa’s renewable buildout is not technology or resource availability. It is money — specifically, the cost of borrowing it.
African countries face financing costs up to three times higher than those in wealthy nations, a penalty driven by perceptions of political and economic risk. That premium makes projects that would be straightforward to fund in Europe or North America difficult or impossible to bring to completion in many African contexts.
“What remains is not a question of technology or cost,” Manga said. “It is a question of finance, political will, and preparing bankable projects that will drive demand for power on the continent.”
Multilateral development banks, climate funds, and blended finance instruments have begun to target this gap, but progress has been uneven. The International Renewable Energy Agency has repeatedly flagged that closing the financing gap is essential if Africa’s renewable potential is to be realized at the speed the climate requires. Organizations like Power Africa, a U.S. government initiative, have worked to de-risk investment and expand electricity access across the continent, with mixed but meaningful results.
What the numbers mean for people
Africa’s population is growing faster than any other region’s, and electricity demand is rising with it. Hundreds of millions of people on the continent still lack reliable grid access. Renewable energy — especially distributed solar — has emerged as a practical path to reaching communities that centralized fossil fuel infrastructure never served.
The International Energy Agency has estimated that universal electricity access in Africa by 2030 C.E. would require roughly 90% of new connections to come from decentralized renewables, primarily solar. The 2025 C.E. buildout pace moves in that direction, though the gap between current installation rates and what universal access demands remains large.
Progress is also uneven across the continent. South Africa, Egypt, and Morocco have driven a significant share of capacity additions, while many smaller and lower-income nations have added little. Ensuring the transition reaches the communities with the least energy access — not just the markets with the strongest project economics — is a challenge the sector has not yet solved.
Read more
For more on this story, see: Yale Environment 360
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Renewables now make up at least 49% of global power capacity
- Global suicide rate has fallen by 40% since 1995
- The Good News for Humankind archive on renewable energy
About this article
- 🤖 This article is AI-generated, based on a framework created by Peter Schulte.
- 🌍 It aims to be inspirational but clear-eyed, accurate, and evidence-based, and grounded in care for the Earth, peace and belonging for all, and human evolution.
- 💬 Leave your notes and suggestions in the comments below — I will do my best to review and implement where appropriate.
- ✉️ One verified piece of good news, one insight from Antihero Project, every weekday morning. Subscribe free.
