The Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) highlighted a report by energy research centre Ember, in partnership with the African Tech Futures Lab (ATFL), titled “Africa’s Solar Surge Yet to Be Captured by Official Statistics.”
The report points to a rapid acceleration in solar power deployment across Africa, driven by falling solar panel costs, growing demand for more reliable electricity supplies, and a sharp increase in Chinese solar panel and battery imports.
Egypt is expected to become Africa’s second-largest market for new solar capacity in 2026, with around 2GW of additions and annual growth of 176%, according to the report.
Africa is expected to add around 17GW of solar capacity in 2026, up 45% year on year, following growth of 51% in 2025 and 25% in 2024. This is equivalent to adding around 47MW of solar capacity, or nearly 100,000 solar panels, every day.
The report estimates that around 94% of solar panels installed in Africa are imported from China, while only 6% are manufactured locally. It said this highlights both the continent’s heavy reliance on Chinese imports and the significant opportunity to develop local manufacturing, capture more value and deepen supply chains linked to clean energy transition.
China exported around 23GW of solar panels to Africa in the 12 months to June 2026, bringing exports close to those to the Middle East and Latin America, which stood at around 23GW and 25GW, respectively, over the same period.
Solar deployment is expanding rapidly across an increasing number of African countries. The report expects 36 of Africa’s 54 countries to record record-high solar capacity additions in 2026, while 19 countries are projected to post annual growth of more than 100%.
The solar systems expected to be installed across Africa in 2026 could generate around 23TWh of electricity annually, equivalent to approximately 2.3% of the continent’s total electricity generation in 2024. This could be enough to cover annual growth in electricity demand if it continues at the average rate of 2.2% recorded between 2014 and 2024.
