Solar energy in sub-Saharan Africa

Latest Articles

20/06/2025
Humphrey Kariuki

For communities still without electricity, the promise of achieving net zero emissions by the year 2050 offers little comfort when their children cannot study in the evening. Africa must begin to define its own energy future. This is not a rejection of global collaboration, but rather a call for genuine partnership.

Interventions that break silos: the Next Generation of Productive Use Beyond Lightbulbs

18/06/2025
Kumbirai Makanza
Article

In the early days of the global energy access movement, success was often measured by the number of lightbulbs turned on or households connected to mini-grids. There was a widespread expectation that expanding access to electricity would naturally catalyse economic development.

Scaling E-Mobility in Africa: How Ethiopia is Pioneering the Transition to Green Transportation — And How Battery Swapping Can Help

17/06/2025
Yuma Sasaki
Article

The average age of a vehicle in Ethiopia is 20 years. In Kenya, the average age easily surpasses a decade, while in Rwanda, the average taxi is 24 years old. Similar numbers can be seen across East Africa, and indeed the entire continent.

Are rural energy access programs pro-poor? Some are, many are not

09/06/2025
Jörg Ankel-Peters, Gunther Bensch, Alexandra Köngeter, Mascha Rauschenbach, Maximiliane Sievert
Article

This perspective article discusses whether energy access programs in rural Sub-Saharan Africa reach the poor in a way that most policy actors claim. We examine on- and off-grid electrification as well as improved cooking.

Solar irrigation: A game changer for climate-burdened rural communities

04/06/2025
Isaiah Esipisu
Article

Solar irrigation has become a reliable, relatively low-cost, clean-energy solution for agricultural water management in areas with high incident solar radiation.

Scaling Solar Irrigation Through Living Labs: A Story of Evidence, Innovation, and Collaboration

02/06/2025
Amare Haileslasie, Principal Researcher
Article

What happens when farmers, financiers, innovators, and policymakers are brought together in one room? A recent multi-stakeholder dialogue held in Hawassa, Ethiopia on scaling solar-powered irrigation offered an answer.

Nigerian and Kenyan farmers can be first step to making rural mini grids more profitable and affordable

30/05/2025
Temilade Sesan, University of Ibadan and Lucy H. Baker, The Open University
Article

In Nigeria and Kenya, many small to medium farms and rural grain-milling businesses are not connected to the national electricity grid. They still use petrol or diesel generators for power.

“Right to Repair”: A Case for Regulations Supporting PUE Consumers and SDG 7”

27/05/2025
Moses Machel Nyakoyo
Article

Achieving SDG 7, which aims to ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy, requires more than just deploying infrastructure. It also depends on empowering consumers of renewable energy solutions—particularly those involved in Productive Uses of Energy (PUE)—to maintain and repair their systems effectively.

The Hidden Costs of Forex Funding: Do Women Pay a Higher Price?

25/05/2025
David Crush, Alexander Sotiriou, Lucia Spaggiari
Article

In 2024, CGAP and MFR research explored trends and challenges in trying to close the gender gap for small borrowers, specifically examining how different institutional structures link to different outcomes.