Solar energy in sub-Saharan Africa

Latest Articles

21/03/2025
Mohamed Rashid

Somalia has been heavily reliant on international aid, particularly from USAID and other donor institutions. While this assistance has been crucial for humanitarian relief, infrastructure development, and institutional rebuilding, it has fostered a dangerous dependency that stifles Somalia’s potential for economic and political self-determination.

Solar Power Doubled Mango Production — and Farmers’ Incomes — in Chamwino, Tanzania

17/03/2025
David Njugi, Benson Ireri and Birouke Teferra
Article

To farmers in the dry, windswept Chamwino district in central Tanzania, mangoes looked like a golden opportunity. With the country’s mango industry expanding, 200 smallholder farmers in Chamwino launched a new farming cooperative, AMCOS, in 2013 to establish a foothold.

Ethiopia’s Solar Industry: Exporting Progress or Missing Local Opportunities?

15/03/2025
Jibril Mohamed Ahmed
Article

Across Africa, there’s a familiar refrain in industries like textiles, electronics, and agriculture: countries become the world’s factory, pumping out raw materials or semi-finished goods while importing the shiny, finished products. It’s a little like cooking a five-course meal, only to have someone else eat it while you’re left with the crumbs.

Green energy doesn’t benefit everyone: ubuntu ideas can help include more people

12/03/2025
Ellen Fungisai Chipango
Article

Ellen Fungisai Chipango is a scholar of the communal ethic of African ubuntu – the belief that we are at our best as individuals and society if we work for the good of others, alongside others. She researches ways in which ubuntu can be applied in real life situations involving energy.

Learning from innovative businesses in the sustainable cooling sector

10/03/2025
Energy Catalyst
Article

Sustainable cooling solutions not only improve quality of life for these communities, but also play a vital role in supporting small businesses and uplifting standards of living. Access to cooling is critical in reducing food waste and strengthens health services by enabling the safe storage of vaccines, medication, and blood.

Key Challenges in the Repair Ecosystem

07/03/2025
Kinya Kimathi
Article

The 2024 Off-Grid Solar (OGS) Market Trends Report notes that only 27% of products sold globally are quality-verified, leaving the majority of the off-grid products that make it to the market (73%) without adequate quality assurance data. This creates uncertainty about the reliability and safety of a large portion of OGS products.

The Repair Ecosystem for Solar Appliances: Challenges and Opportunities for Improvement (part 1)

04/03/2025
Kinya Kimathi
Article

Over the past decade, the sale of off-grid solar appliances has experienced an unprecedented boom. According to the off-grid solar market trends report series published every two years by the World Bank, the number of people accessing solar energy kits has grown from 420 million in 2019 to over 490 million by the end of 2021.

Why Solar Lanterns and SHS Failed in Ethiopia

01/03/2025
Jibril Mohamed Ahmed
Article

I still remember the day the first solar lantern arrived in my village. It was a small, bright beacon — a symbol of hope in a place where the sun set early and darkness stretched long. For the first time, families could gather around a light without the choking fumes of a kerosene lamp.

Electricity as medicine: Hidden costs of providing healthcare in darkness

28/02/2025
Waliat Musa and Ijeoma Nwanosike
Article

For over three months, Nigeria’s premier teaching hospital, the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, grappled with an unprecedented power crisis that disrupted surgeries, paralysed diagnostic services, and turned the once-revered facility into a dark abyss.