Africa Is Embracing Renewable Energy
Power Africa
African countries are increasingly looking to renewable energy to meet growing power demand
“Africa is not on the periphery of the global energy transition, it is sitting at its center,” Mugwe Manga, climate finance lead at FSD Kenya, told the Associated Press. “The continent holds the world’s best renewable reclean energy.”
In 2025, African countries added a combined 11.3 gigawatts of renewable capacity, up from just 4.2 gigawatts in 2024, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency
Increasingly, renewables are displacing fossil fuels. Of the 322 energy projects announced across Africa last year, 253 were renewable energy projects, including 173 solar installations, according to research firm Electron Intelligence. Just 22 natural gas projects were announced
Despite abundant sunshine and falling costs for solar and batteries, the renewable buildout faces significant hurdles, the Associated Press reports. Among them is the high cost of financing renewable energy. Compared to wealthy countries, borrowing costs are up to three times higher in African countries, owing to greater political and economic instability
“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.”
One fossil fuel project that is moving ahead is the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, or EACOP, which, when completed, will ship crude oil 900 miles from the Great Lakes region in Uganda to the Tanzanian coast.
The project continues to move ahead despite a campaign that has rallied banks, insurers, and Western governments against it. French oil giant TotalEnergies, its main backer, has been implicated in the coercion and intimidation of families living in the path of the pipeline, which threatens to contaminate freshwater and harm wildlife, campaigners say
According to an analysis of satellite imagery from watchdog group Earth Insight, the pipeline is nearly finished, though key river crossing are still incomplete. With oil expected to begin flowing in October, opponents say time is running out to prevent irreparable harm
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