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Why East Africa is falling behind the continent’s solar boom
While other African regions are accelerating utility-scale deployment, East Africa remains the continent’s smallest contributor to new solar capacity, caught between strong climate need, fast-growing electricity demand and structural barriers that continue to slow large-scale rollout.
What you need to know:
- Large-scale projects have struggled to move from planning to construction as weak transmission networks, limited grid flexibility and a shortage of battery storage restrict the ability of power systems to absorb new capacity.
- Financing remains a major bottleneck, with high upfront costs, currency risks and limited access to long-term capital deterring private investors and leaving many developments reliant on donor or development finance.
When Kenya announced a solar-plus-storage tender for two 40-megawatt projects in Kajiado and Makueni counties in May 2025, the move was widely seen as a signal of renewed ambition.
For a region facing worsening droughts, increasingly unpredictable rainfall and surging electricity demand, large-scale solar has shifted from being a strategic choice to an essential climate response.
Yet across East Africa, the solar transition is unfolding unevenly.
While other African regions are accelerating utility-scale deployment, East Africa remains the continent’s smallest contributor to new solar capacity, caught between strong climate need, fast-growing electricity demand and structural barriers that continue to slow large-scale rollout.
According to the latest Solar PV Market report for Africa by the Global Solar Council, the continent’s solar market revealed stark regional contrasts in 2025. Southern Africa led new installations, accounting for 46 per cent of total capacity added across the continent. This growth was driven largely by South Africa and supported by increasing deployment in Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, Angola, and Zimbabwe.
North Africa followed with a 29 per cent share as large-scale projects in Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia reached commissioning or broke ground, translating into concrete capacity additions and renewed momentum in utility-scale solar.
West Africa’s expansion was dominated by Nigeria, which accounted for nearly 80 per cent of the region’s new installations, alongside contributions from Ghana, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Cameroon; underscoring how strong policy signals and market demand can rapidly accelerate growth.
East Africa, however, continued to trail.
“East Africa remains the smallest contributor in absolute terms under the ‘Medium Growth Scenario,’” the report stated, “but its forecast trajectory points to a region that is progressively building deployment capacity from a low base.
Why East Africa is slowing
East Africa’s slowdown in new installations is not due to a lack of solar resources or climate urgency. Instead, deployment has increasingly shifted toward distributed segments; rural electrification, commercial and industrial systems and mini-grids, rather than utility-scale projects that add capacity quickly.
The region’s slower solar rollout is being shaped less by ambition than by a web of structural constraints.
Large-scale projects have struggled to move from planning to construction as weak transmission networks, limited grid flexibility and a shortage of battery storage restrict the ability of power systems to absorb new capacity.
Financing remains a major bottleneck, with high upfront costs, currency risks and limited access to long-term capital deterring private investors and leaving many developments reliant on donor or development finance.
At the same time, regulatory uncertainty, marked by lengthy permitting processes, and the absence of standardised power purchase agreements, has prolonged project timelines, while fragmented markets and data gaps across off-grid, mini-grid and commercial segments complicate coordination.
In several countries, heavy dependence on imported equipment has pushed up costs, and persistent gaps between electricity access and actual household connectivity have weakened demand certainty. Together, these factors help explain why East Africa’s solar transition has advanced cautiously rather than at scale.
“Although technology costs continue to fall and solar-plus-storage is among the fastest and lowest-cost energy solutions, access to capital remains expensive, fragmented and misaligned with distributed markets,” reads the report.
Kenya, long regarded as a regional renewable energy leader due to its geothermal dominance, is now seeking to diversify its clean energy mix as drought threatens hydropower reliability.
“In May 2025, Kenya launched a solar-plus-storage tender for two 40 MW projects in Kajiado and Makueni, which could help reinvigorate large-scale solar development across the region,” the report explains.
Another notable development is the HDF Energy Green Hydrogen Project, which will combine 180 megawatts of solar generation with 500 megawatt-hours of hydrogen storage. Designed to supply firm, low-carbon electricity, construction was expected to begin in 2025, with commercial operation targeted for 2027.
Also read: Solar: The invisible burden of going green
Tanzania aims to boost renewables from 61.8 per cent in 2024 to 75 per cent by 2030, targeting 463 MW of solar under the National Energy Compact.
According to the report, while access has improved, only 52 per cent of households are connected, leaving rural areas reliant on mini-grids, rooftop systems, and productive-use solar.
Rwanda continues to rely on distributed solar, with off-grid systems serving 25 per cent of households and solar making up 4.2 per cent of the grid mix. The government supports small-scale installations with simplified licensing and net metering, while battery storage adoption grows. However, the country still faces challenges such as high import costs, limited financing, and weak power purchase agreements. The government is reportedly planning $16 billion in solar investments by 2050, targeting 1.5 GW of new capacity.
Somalia reported no new utility-scale capacity in 2025, but high diesel tariffs are making diesel-to-solar hybrids increasingly attractive. Solar and storage are expanding in mini-grids and commercial systems, supported by donor programmes.
Ethiopia remains heavily hydropower-dependent, with off-grid solar gradually growing to meet rising demand.
However, regulatory hurdles, currency risks, and financing gaps continue to slow large-scale deployment.
Africa’s renewable energy transition is accelerating, supported by strong economic momentum, falling technology costs and rising demand for reliable power.
With economic growth reaching around 3.9 per cent in 2025 and more than 20 countries exceeding five per cent growth, energy supply has become a central enabler of development.
Governments have committed to large-scale renewable expansion, including a continental target of 300 GW by 2030 and initiatives such as Mission 300 to connect 300 million people. Solar sits at the core of this trajectory, positioning the technology as both an energy access solution and an engine for competitiveness and resilience.
