Africa’s solar sector has entered a new phase of accelerated expansion, with 2025 marking the fastest year of growth ever recorded on the continent. According to the Global Solar Council’s Africa Market Outlook for Solar PV 2026 to 2029, solar installations increased by 54% in 2025 compared to 2024, confirming that growth is accelerating rather than plateauing. Both utility scale and distributed systems contributed to the surge, highlighting a broad based market expansion.
The report finds that solar growth is no longer concentrated in a handful of early mover markets. In 2025, eight African countries installed more than 100 MW of solar capacity, up from four countries in 2024. Several additional markets came close to crossing the 100 MW threshold, demonstrating that deployment is spreading across multiple regions.
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A defining feature of the current growth cycle is the rapid rise of distributed solar. While utility scale projects still account for the majority of officially reported installations, distributed systems including rooftop, commercial and captive solar now represent 44% of new capacity additions. The report notes that this segment remains systematically undercounted in national statistics, suggesting actual deployment may be significantly higher.
The market is being driven by two parallel transitions. On the one hand, governments are advancing grid connected utility scale projects under public procurement and power purchase agreement frameworks. On the other, privately financed rooftop and commercial installations are expanding rapidly, often under different financing structures and policy conditions. Both pathways are scaling quickly, reinforcing overall sector momentum.
The medium term outlook suggests Africa could install more than 33 GW of solar capacity by 2029, more than six times the capacity added in 2025, as both distributed and utility scale markets expand across a growing number of countries. The outlook also highlights increasing momentum in solar and storage integration as grid stability and energy security become central priorities.
Complementing these findings, the Africa Solar Industry Association Africa Solar Outlook 2026 reports that Africa installed a minimum of 2.4 GW of solar capacity in 2025. Using a bottom up project tracking methodology, the association identified and monitored more than 42,000 individual solar projects by the end of 2025, describing its database as the most comprehensive in the African solar industry to date.
The number of identified projects increased by around 40% compared to the end of 2024. Projects across all stages of development now represent a combined capacity of 296 GW, of which 23.4 GW is operational. This reflects a 26% year on year increase in operating capacity.
AFSIA also revised its 2024 installation figures upward. While initially reporting 2.5 GW installed during that year, an additional 1.2 GW of projects commissioned in 2024 has since been added to its database, bringing the revised total to 3.7 GW.
However, the association argues that even these figures may underestimate the true scale of solar deployment across the continent. Chinese export data shows that 58.1 GW of solar modules have been shipped to African countries since 2017, including 16.1 GW in 2025 alone. By extrapolating exports prior to 2017, AFSIA estimates that total installed solar capacity across Africa could reach 63.9 GW. This would imply that solar is up to 2.75 times more prevalent than commonly assumed.
Under this expanded view, Africa’s share of global installed solar capacity could be closer to 2.6% rather than the frequently cited figure of below 1%. When Chinese export data is factored in, Africa emerges as the fastest growing solar region globally in 2025, recording a compound annual growth rate of 17% compared to a global average of 2%.
This accelerated growth has already attracted major international manufacturers, several of which are targeting Africa as a strategic growth market and establishing local manufacturing facilities – mainly in Egypt. Read more
According to AFSIA, most currently unidentified solar capacity is concentrated in the commercial and industrial segment, along with residential installations. Utility scale projects are generally well documented, while off grid systems, minigrids and government led programmes are more consistently reported. Based on industry interviews, the association estimates that 85% of untracked capacity sits within the commercial and industrial segment, with the remaining 15% in the residential market.
Together, the findings point to a solar market that is deeper, broader and more dynamic than previously understood, positioning Africa as an increasingly strategic player in the global energy transition.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
Solis has an extensive distribution network across Africa. For enquiries on the African continent contact Solis Sales: sales@ginlong.com
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