Africa’s Unseen Solar Energy Revolution
Africa: Earth's Wild Home Director Alice Clarke and cameramen Graham Hatherley and Christopher Watts filming a painted lady butterfly courtship on a hilltop near Ouarzazate, Morocco (photo cropped; credit National Geographic/Hedvika Michnova courtesy of National Geographic via email/dropbox).
October 2, 20261 hour
Tina Casey
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On the well-known maps of the world, Africa appears to be almost the size of North America. That’s not really the case. A decades-long corrective effort by cartographers is finally about to pay off as the United Nations moves to recognize that Africa is far bigger, leading one to wonder what else has long escaped the public gaze. The continent’s solar energy potential, for example, is also far bigger than it may appear.
What Else Has Escaped The Public Gaze?
Before we get to solar energy, let’s take a quick look at the latest National Geographic series on wildlife in Africa. Considering the massive amount of documentary footage that has already been filmed on the continent, it’s a miracle that anything new remains to be seen.
And yet, they’ve done it again. The renowned actress Wunmi Mosaku narrates the way through the new Nat Geo series Africa: Earth’s Wild Home, guiding audiences into up-close and never-before-seen experiences with explorers and protectors. Curious? Check out the trailer here and catch the first episode on Friday, October 2 on National Geographic TV (streaming to follow on Disney+ and Hulu).
In an interesting twist, Nat Geo’s partner in the project is Rolex, through the company’s Perpetual Planet initiative. There is much to be said about Rolex, including the origin of the name, which company founder Hans Wilsdorf attributes to a genie.
Africa’s Hidden Solar Energy Revolution
Turning now to solar energy, the latest news comes from the global-facing, UK-based think tank Ember.
Solar activity in Africa has been booming, but Ember makes the case that the topline figures mask a much larger, unseen surge of growth. “Half of the estimated rise in solar is missing from official statistics – because national reporting is so poor,” Ember explains.
“We could only find official reporting for national solar capacity for 36 out of 54 countries; only 14 of those were for 2025, and even those 14 countries seem to underestimate the rise in solar,” the think tank elaborates.
As a means of filling the gap, Ember dug into the tsunami of Chinese solar panels exported to Africa from China, a pipeline that accelerated this year. “Chinese exports of solar panels to Africa surged to 23 GW in the 12 months to June 2026, a 53% rise on the 12 months to June 2025,” Ember notes.
Instead of relying on patchy utility figures, Ember also dug into government procurement records and other sources to determine that a significant reporting gap is in evidence.
Distributed Solar Energy Outweighs Utility-Scale Additions
When the Chinese export factor is added to the calculations, the difference is substantial. “Ember’s 2025 solar growth estimate is twice that of international statistics – 12.0 GW in 2025, compared with 6.2 GW from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and 4.6 GW from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA),” Ember emphasizes.
Based on its figures, Ember anticipates that installations for the full year of 2026 will rise another 45%, with about 75% of that — about 20 GW of the anticipated 26 gigawatts — likely coming from solar energy harvested outside of the utility and off-grid sectors.
The difference lies in the explosive growth of DER (distributed energy resources) in Africa. “Distributed solar, which is small-scale, customer-side solar installed mostly on rooftops – makes up most of Africa’s solar growth,” Ember explains.
One finding of particular relevance globally is the compatibility of distributed resources with utility-scale solar energy projects. Ember cites the example of Egypt, where its calculations show that 43% of the country’s solar growth consists of DER, even though the country is also installing centralized, utility-scale projects at a record pace.
Spotlight On Egypt
Egypt has been on the CleanTechnica radar since 2015, when interest among global solar investors ticked up. The initial goal was 1.4 GW, with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Redevelopment chipping in around 2018.
“That was just for starters. By 2023, Egypt was off to the races as home to the 1.8-gigawatt BenBan solar farm near Aswan, billed as the fourth largest solar power plant in the world at the time. In July of 2025, word dropped that another 1.1 GW solar plant is in the works, in the Nagaa Hammadi region. The new facility will integrate with a 200 megawatt-hour BESS (battery energy storage system), marking Egypt’s first solar-plus-storage project,” CleanTechnica reported in January of this year.
Capping off the solar energy news from January, Norway entered the picture when the leading Norwegian firm Scatec signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company for 1.95 GW of solar and 3.9 GWh (gigawatt-hours) battery-type energy storage.
The Green Hydrogen Connection
Of course, no story about solar energy in Egypt is complete without a mention of green hydrogen, meaning hydrogen gas produced from water with an electrical current. The process makes no sense, sustainably speaking, under a fossil fuel scenario. However, an abundant supply of low-cost renewable energy flips the script.
With enormous solar energy resources in hand, back in 2022 the Sovereign Fund of Egypt joined with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Scatec, and other partners to announce a green hydrogen plan called “Egypt Green.” Partial operations at the facility reportedly began earlier this year, including an export pipeline to the US and Europe.
Among other projects, in 2023 the Saudi Arabian firm ACWA Power entered the picture with a $4 billion USD green hydrogen project in Egypt.
Another sign of movement appeared in May, when the European Chair for Sustainable Development and Climate Transition posted a policy brief under the title, “Green Hydrogen Cooperation Between Egypt And Europe.” Based on survey data from the Suez Canal Eonomic Zone in Egypt, the researchers find “high acceptance” for green hydrogen projects under both export and domestic-use scenarios.
“When asked to choose, however, respondents expressed a stronger preference for domestic use,” the researchers advise. “Support for exports, then, is more conditional, and tied especially to local economic benefit.”
Bottling up solar energy in the form of green hydrogen (or its cousin, green ammonia), is one way to export African solar resources to Europe, so keep an eye on that angle. As for local benefits, the EU has that covered.
“Egypt and the European Union are deepening their strategic partnership in the field of renewable energy with a financing package of up to €690 million to upgrade and expand the Egyptian electricity network,” the EU reported in June.
The initiative, backed by the European Commission and the EIB Global branch of the European Investment Bank, is expected to add 22 GW of renewable energy capacity to Egypt’s grid by 2030, which is just around the corner.
As described by the EU, the 22-GW commitment is one of a series of projects planned under the T-MED renewable energy collaboration between the EU and its southern Mediterranean partners. Hold on to your hats…
Photo: Rich in solar energy, the continent of Africa is beginning to emerge as a hotspot for renewable energy activity, with much of it hidden below the topline numbers (photo cropped; Africa: Earth’s Wild Home Director Alice Clarke and cameramen Graham Hatherley and Christopher Watts filming a painted lady butterfly courtship on a hilltop near Ouarzazate, Morocco; National Geographic/Hedvika Michnova courtesy of National Geographic via email/dropbox).
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Source: https://cleantechnica.com/2026/10/02/solar-energy-africa-wildlife-national-geographic-documentary/
