The first evidence of a take-off in solar in Africa

[RickyDiBiase]

The latest data provides evidence that a solar pick-up is happening at scale in many countries in Africa.​

Solar is not new to Africa. For more than two decades, solar has helped improve lives across Africa, in rural schools and hospitals, pay-as-you-go in homes, street lighting, water pumping, mini-grids and more. However, South Africa and Egypt are currently the only countries with installed solar capacity measured in gigawatts, rather than megawatts. That could be about to change.

The first evidence of a take-off in solar in Africa is now here:

• The last 12 months saw a big rise in Africa’s solar panel imports. Imports from China rose 60% in the last 12 months to 15,032 MW. Over the last two years, the imports of solar panels outside of South Africa have nearly tripled from 3,734 MW to 11,248 MW.
• The rise happened across Africa. 20 countries set a new record for the imports of solar panels in the 12 months to June 2025. 25 countries imported at least 100 MW, up from 15 countries 12 months before.
• These solar panels will provide a lot of electricity. The solar panels imported into Sierra Leone in the last 12 months, if installed, would generate electricity equivalent to 61% of the total reported 2023 electricity generation, significantly adding to electricity supply. They would add electricity equivalent to over 5% to total reported electricity generation in 16 countries.
• Solar panel imports will reduce fuel imports. The savings from avoiding diesel can repay the cost of a solar panel within six months in Nigeria, and even less in other countries. In nine of the top ten solar panel importers, the import value of refined petroleum eclipses the import value of solar panels by a factor of between 30 to 107.

This surge is still in its early days. Pakistan experienced an immense solar boom in the last two years, but Africa is not the next Pakistan – yet. However, change happens quickly. And the first evidence is now here.

Initial analysis suggests the growth may be driven more in distributed solar than in utility-scale solar.

The Chinese solar export data used in this report is an important source of data, but it is only a partial view. More detailed and localised research is needed to fully track solar’s rise in Africa.

The first evidence of a take-off in solar in Africa | Ember

There has been a major pick-up in solar panel imports into Africa over the last 12 months - a shift that is likely to impact almost every country on the continent.

ember-energy.org

 

[get these nets]

Great story

Initial analysis suggests the growth may be driven more in distributed solar than in utility-scale solar.

Best part of the story. People in rural areas and those unconnected to the grid benefit the most from having an alternative source of power.

While waiting for the implementing of utility scale, which may or may not happen.

On the island that Haiti and DR share, decades ago both countries were trending towards deforestation , as the poor rural folks cut trees for charbon/charcoal to cook.

DR set up a system of giving their people hybrid stoves/alternative ways to cook. Haiti did NOTHING . ..and the deforestation continued.

 

[get these nets]

08/26/25
They speak to Ogutu Okudo of Guuru Energy

 

[CopiousX]

Great story



Best part of the story. People in rural areas and those unconnected to the grid benefit the most from having an alternative source of power.

While waiting for the implementing of utility scale, which may or may not happen.

On the island that Haiti and DR share, decades ago both countries were trending towards deforestation , as the poor rural folks cut trees for charbon/charcoal to cook.

DR set up a system of giving their people hybrid stoves/alternative ways to cook. Haiti did NOTHING . ..and the deforestation continued.

I'm conflicted on this one. Yes I'm happy that more people are getting access to reliable power, But the reason the European Union and America are banning Chinese solar panels is twofold.


And China is dumping their excess supply which cacs won't take on black countries

Spoiler: Security Risk to black nations....

First . They are a security risk. China has both software and hardware backdoors which allow China to turn off the power grid If these African countries defy Beijing. On the hardware side they They are able to place kill switches in the embedded circuits inside the solar panels. This easier to do now because America Banned them from using TSMC neutral chip fabs in Taiwan, meaning they are domestically produced under Beijing supervision.

Chinese ‘kill switches’ found hidden in US solar farms

Hidden cellular radios could be activated remotely to cripple power grids in the event of a confrontation between China and the West

www.thetimes.com

On the software side, most of the solar panels are network connected and require updates in order to function. The back end network connectivity allows them to be remotely accessed by Chinese agencies

Spoiler: how solar power hacking works...

The video is timestampped.

This is a geopolitical nightmare, because if a African or Caribbean country were to vote against a Chinese policy at the UN or refuse to export minerals, it's too easy for them to disable entire power grids as a punitive measure.



I'd argue that giving market share to Chinese solar power suppliers is just as bad as importing all of our food from Europe Because they can just turn off the drip when we start misbehaving . a black nation would be crippled

Spoiler: moral Risk to black nations....

Second. they are made by slaves. And I mean this literally because most of the solar panel industry of China is situated in xinjiang province . They have a Turkish minority of Chinese people who are Muslims placed into literal concentration camps being forced to manufacture solar panels with no pay, and under the threat of torture and maiming. This is why the Chinese solar panels are so cheap compared to even other countries like India or Vietnam which have to pay people.

Uyghur Forced Labour – Solar Industry - René Cassin

Research shows that most of teh global solar panel industry is at risk of being complicit with the Uyghur forced labour. Read more here.

renecassin.org

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/exclusive-us-blocks-more-than-1000-solar-shipments-over-chinese-slave-labor-2022-11-11/

Beijing kidnaps random men and boys from uighur Muslim communities in xinjiang province and uses them like disposable batteries in their industrial engine as part of state suppression .

China tells Uighur Muslims they are abducting their families so they can cleanse their brains like they have a disease, leaked documents show

The documents, published by The New York Times, contain instructions to tell Uighur students that their relatives had been "infected" by religion.

www.businessinsider.com

So as a black person, I feel some type of way about using The labor of slaves to power our refrigerators, drinking wells, or phone chargers . It just feels icky

Both of these reasons lead me to believe that Chinese exports of solar panels are Trojan horse. They make importers complicit with gross human rights violations and add unnecessary vulnerabilities to already fragile black nations

 

[get these nets]

I'm conflicted on this one. Yes I'm happy that more people are getting access to reliable power, But the reason the European Union and America are banning Chinese solar panels is twofold.


And China is dumping their excess supply which cacs won't take on black countries

Spoiler: Security Risk to black nations....

First . They are a security risk. China has both software and hardware backdoors which allow China to turn off the power grid If these African countries defy Beijing. On the hardware side they They are able to place kill switches in the embedded circuits inside the solar panels. This easier to do now because America Banned them from using TSMC neutral chip fabs in Taiwan, meaning they are domestically produced under Beijing supervision.

Chinese ‘kill switches’ found hidden in US solar farms

Hidden cellular radios could be activated remotely to cripple power grids in the event of a confrontation between China and the West

www.thetimes.com

On the software side, most of the solar panels are network connected and require updates in order to function. The back end network connectivity allows them to be remotely accessed by Chinese agencies

Spoiler: how solar power hacking works...

The video is timestampped.

This is a geopolitical nightmare, because if a African or Caribbean country were to vote against a Chinese policy at the UN or refuse to export minerals, it's too easy for them to disable entire power grids as a punitive measure.



I'd argue that giving market share to Chinese solar power suppliers is just as bad as importing all of our food from Europe Because they can just turn off the drip when we start misbehaving . a black nation would be crippled

Spoiler: moral Risk to black nations....

Second. they are made by slaves. And I mean this literally because most of the solar panel industry of China is situated in xinjiang province . They have a Turkish minority of Chinese people who are Muslims placed into literal concentration camps being forced to manufacture solar panels with no pay, and under the threat of torture and maiming. This is why the Chinese solar panels are so cheap compared to even other countries like India or Vietnam which have to pay people.

Uyghur Forced Labour – Solar Industry - René Cassin

Research shows that most of teh global solar panel industry is at risk of being complicit with the Uyghur forced labour. Read more here.

renecassin.org

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/exclusive-us-blocks-more-than-1000-solar-shipments-over-chinese-slave-labor-2022-11-11/

Beijing kidnaps random men and boys from uighur Muslim communities in xinjiang province and uses them like disposable batteries in their industrial engine as part of state suppression .

China tells Uighur Muslims they are abducting their families so they can cleanse their brains like they have a disease, leaked documents show

The documents, published by The New York Times, contain instructions to tell Uighur students that their relatives had been "infected" by religion.

www.businessinsider.com

So as a black person, I feel some type of way about using The labor of slaves to power our refrigerators, drinking wells, or phone chargers . It just feels icky

Both of these reasons lead me to believe that Chinese exports of solar panels are Trojan horse. They make importers complicit with gross human rights violations and add unnecessary vulnerabilities to already fragile black nations

Forward thinking leaders would develop the capacity for their domestic industries to build panels as they are pivoting towards using solar.