About 3.74 gigawatts (GW) of new solar capacity were installed in Africa last year, a level never achieved in one year on the continent, which holds about 60% of the world‘s photovoltaic resources. This was revealed in the report by the African Solar Industry Association (Afsia) published last week.
Titled “Annual solar outlook 2024: a country-by-country review of the state of solar energy in Africa”, the report specifies that these new capacities, which represent a growth of 19% compared to the year 2022, bring the total installed solar capacities in Africa with 16.3 Gw.
Historically, solar energy development in Africa has been led by a handful of forward-thinking countries such as South Africa, Morocco and Egypt, but more and more countries on the continent are adopting solar energy as a major source of energy supply: in Overall, last year, 38 African countries built solar plants with a capacity of 1 megawatt (Mw) or more. Of these 38 countries, 17 have installed more than 10 MW and only one country has installed more than 100 MW. The rest have installed new capacities ranging from 1 to 10 MW.
The ranking of African countries in terms of installed solar capacity in 2023 shows that South Africa holds first place with 2.96 Gw, or 79% of the total installed capacity on the continent during last year.
South Africa, the most industrialized country on the continent, is experiencing a serious energy crisis which has been hindering economic growth for several years and forcing more and more businesses and families to resort massively to off-grid solar energy to put an end to the repeated blackouts of the ‘electric energy. At the end of 2023 it had a total solar capacity of 7.78 Gw, or about 47% of all installed capacity on the continent.
With a new installed capacity of 92.3 MW, Burkina Faso occupies second position in the ranking ahead of Mauritania (84 MW), Kenya (69.5 MW), Central African Republic (40 MW), Ivory Coast (38, 1 Mw) and Egypt (37.5 Mw).
The report also highlights that the majority of new capacity added in Africa in 2023 comes from installations aimed at commercial and industrial consumers: this type of installation represents 65% of the total additional capacity installed last year. In the absence of strong public power companies and reliable grids, companies have finally found a viable alternative in off-grid solar and energy storage solutions amidst falling prices for the necessary equipment.
Government-supported large-scale solar systems accounted for 32.4% of total new installed capacity compared to 2.4% for home solar systems and 0.2% for mini-grids.
The continent installed just over 1% of new global solar capacity in 2023 and hosts less than 1% of total planetary-scale solar capacity (1497 Gw). Globally, new solar capacity installed over the past year reached an all-time record of 350 Gw, an increase of 46% compared to the previous year. [Da Redazione InfoAfrica]
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