Solar energy in sub-Saharan Africa

Latest Articles

05/11/2025
Launch Base Africa

Across Africa, ex-Big Tech leaders are turning failures into innovation. Trained by giants like Uber, they now build startups that truly fit local markets.

Boost and Structure Capital to Reflect Market Maturity and Enable Scale

03/11/2025
Engie Energy Access
Article

We advocate that a differentiated capital strategy is urgently needed, which will require a fundamental shift in how much funding is committed and how it is structured.

Getting the most from renewables through digitalisation

31/10/2025
David Lecoque
Article

Digitalisation and optimisation are transforming the distributed renewable energy (DRE) sector from generation and distribution to supply and consumption. This shift is not a distant vision but a daily reality shaping how energy is managed, monitored, and maintained across the globe.

Right Decision, Wrong Reasons: The Way Forward from the Attack on Global Aid

28/10/2025
Simon Marot, Elana Banin and Jakob Øster
Article

The liberal international order is fracturing. The three pillars of the post–Cold War era — multilateralism, democracy and free trade — are under sustained pressure. From Ukraine to the Sahel, we’ve seen how diplomacy is being bypassed in favor of bilateral investment and transactional alignment.

How to clean solar panels in arid areas? Waterless systems could improve efficiency

27/10/2025
Samuel Ogunsona
Article

A recent report details a waterless solar cleaning system design developed to address the challenge of dust accumulation on solar panels in arid regions; it is one of multiple waterless cleaning systems that have come about in recent years.

Beyond new connections: Financing Electricity Access in Africa

21/10/2025
International Energy Agency (IEA)
Article

Achieving universal access is not only about funding initial connections – it also requires ensuring that electricity services remain reliable, affordable and sustainable over time.

Resetting the approach to PAYGo for the long-term sustainability of the sector

15/10/2025
Simone Vaccari
Article

We all need to reboot. In the past years the whole PAYGo sector in growth markets has been based on a false premise. The “hard sell” that pushes a product onto an ill-suited customer is not success – it gives a short term shot in the arm in terms of on the surface impact but is not a medium or a long-term play. At worst it is just failure delayed.

A Sense of Déjà Vu: Africa’s Climate Ambitions and the Imperative of Strategic Finance

14/10/2025
Mikiyas Mulugeta
Article

Watching the Addis Ababa Declaration on Climate Change and Call for Action unfold at ACS2, I was struck by a palpable sense of déjà vu. The summit radiated ambition, with Africa positioned as a global climate leader, framed not as a passive recipient but as a proactive partner.

Energy for whom?

11/10/2025
Abiud Onyach
Article

Behind the fanfare of the Africa Climate Summit, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline shows how neocolonial extraction still drives Africa’s energy future.