Africa's Photovoltaic Market Has Exploded In Growth

Double breakthroughs in energy storage and mining energy transformation

As the leader of Africa's photovoltaic market, South Africa is realizing energy structure transformation through policy and technology dual-wheel drive.

According to the results of the third round of the Battery Energy Storage Procurement Program (BESIP PPP) announced by the South African Department of Electricity and Energy on June 3, 2025, Norway's Scatec and South African local developer Mulilo will jointly promote the implementation of five energy storage projects in the Free State Power Supply Area, with a total scale of 616MW/2464MWh. These projects are scheduled to complete commercial operation in January 2026, focusing on meeting the needs of key auxiliary services such as instantaneous backup and regulation backup of the power grid, which will effectively alleviate South Africa's long-standing power shortage problem.

In the mining field, the "SPS Mine Medium Voltage Seamless Power System" launched by China's Trommei Energy Storage has become an industry benchmark. The solution adopts the industry-leading 10ms seamless instantaneous switching technology to provide emergency power supply and safe production support for remote mining areas, significantly reducing dependence on diesel power generation.

For example, in a gold mining project near Johannesburg, the system reduced diesel consumption by 40%, annual operating costs by $1.2 million, and carbon emissions by 35%.

Trombe Energy Storage also cooperated with South African mining giant Anglo American to deploy the first megawatt-level integrated photovoltaic storage system in Limpopo Province, combining photovoltaic power generation with energy storage to meet the 24-hour stable electricity demand in the mining area.

The South African government's policy support has injected strong momentum into the market. The Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP) introduced in 2024 has simplified the project approval process and attracted global investors to participate.

By the end of 2024, South Africa's cumulative photovoltaic installed capacity reached 8.97GW, and it is planned to add 1.5GW in 2025, of which industrial and commercial distributed PV account for more than 60%. In addition, South Africa has also attracted Chinese companies to build battery component bases in the Northern Cape Province through tax exemptions and land preferential policies, with the goal of achieving 30% of local component production capacity in 2026.

Demonstration effect of 10GW super project and integrated photovoltaic and energy storage

Egypt is building a renewable energy hub in Africa with a 10GW photovoltaic project as the core. The project is included in Egypt's "Green Corridor" initiative, which aims to connect photovoltaic bases on the Red Sea coast with the Nile Delta load center through an ultra-high voltage transmission network.

As the main partner, China Electric Power Equipment will rely on the technical advantages of State Grid in ultra-high voltage and grid digitalization to promote project construction. According to the plan, the project will be implemented in three phases: the first phase of 3700MW photovoltaic and 2840MWh energy storage is planned to be connected to the grid in the summer of 2025, with an annual power generation of 1500GWh, which can meet the electricity needs of 3 million households.

Egypt's photovoltaic and energy storage integration project has made significant progress. Trina Solar provided a 300MWh Elementa Diamond 2 energy storage system for Egypt's first large-scale ground-based power station photovoltaic storage project, the Abydos energy storage project. The project adopts the "photovoltaic + energy storage + hydrogen production" model, with an annual hydrogen production of 5,000 tons, which can replace 20,000 tons of diesel.

The 1.1GW photovoltaic + 100MW/200MWh energy storage project in cooperation between Norway's Scatec and Egypt Aluminum will provide green electricity for Egypt Aluminum, reduce its production costs by 20%, and reduce carbon emissions by 120,000 tons/year.

The Egyptian government's policy goal is clear: by 2030, renewable energy will account for 42%, of which PV will contribute 22%. To this end, Egypt has introduced a "net metering" policy that allows industrial and commercial users to integrate excess photovoltaic power into the grid to gain benefits. As of 2024, Egypt's photovoltaic installed capacity will reach 1.9GW, and an additional 2GW is expected in 2025, mainly concentrated in Aswan, Luxor and other solar resource-rich areas.

Innovative practice of combining solar thermal and energy storage

Morocco's Noor Midelt III project is a model of photovoltaic and energy storage integration in Africa. The project includes 400MW photovoltaic and 400MWh battery energy storage systems, adopts a "photovoltaic + solar thermal + energy storage" hybrid power generation mode, and has an annual power generation of 1.2TWh, which can meet 10% of Morocco's electricity demand.

Eight consortiums including the State Power Investment Corporation Yellow River Company have been shortlisted for the project bidding, and it is planned to be completed and put into operation in 2026. The winning bid price is expected to be as low as US$0.0696/kWh, setting a new low for similar projects in Africa.

Morocco's energy transformation strategy focuses on "green hydrogen energy". The country plans to build 5GW of green hydrogen production capacity by 2030 and build a 10GW photovoltaic base.

The Noor Ouarzazate solar thermal power station in Ouarzazate is one of the world's largest solar thermal power generation projects, with an installed capacity of 580MW, of which the solar thermal part accounts for 200MW, and can achieve 24-hour continuous power supply.

The project solves the intermittent problem of PV through heat storage technology, providing replicable experience for large-scale energy projects in Africa.

The Moroccan government attracts investment through policies such as land concessions and tax exemptions. For example, foreign companies investing in renewable energy can enjoy a 10-year tax exemption period and have priority in obtaining state-owned land use rights. As of 2024, Morocco's photovoltaic installed capacity will reach 394MW, and an additional 1GW is expected in 2025, mainly distributed in the eastern desert area.

The role of Chinese companies in the African photovoltaic market is changing from equipment suppliers to comprehensive service providers. Take the Garissa photovoltaic power station as an example. The project was jointly constructed by China Jiangxi International and JinkoSolar. It has an installed capacity of 54.66MW and an annual power generation of 76 million kWh, which can meet the electricity needs of 70,000 households and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 64,000 tons per year. The project adopts the "photovoltaic + agriculture" model, planting drought-resistant crops under photovoltaic panels, driving local farmers to increase their annual income by 3 million US dollars. In addition, the power station also provides stable electricity for nearby gold mines, reducing their diesel power generation costs by 40%.

In terms of technology output, Huawei Digital Energy deployed a 10MW distributed photovoltaic system for Johannesburg International Airport in South Africa, using intelligent string inverters and AI energy management systems, which increased power generation efficiency by 5% and reduced operation and maintenance costs by 30%. Sungrow Power Supply provided 2GW inverters for the Benban Solar Park in Egypt to support the stable operation of its 1.8GW photovoltaic project, with annual power generation meeting the needs of 1 million households.

Chinese companies are also actively involved in the African energy storage market. CATL cooperated with Eskom of South Africa to deploy a 500MWh energy storage system in Cape Town, using lithium iron phosphate batteries with long cycle life to support grid peak load regulation and backup power supply. The project reduced Cape Town's abandoned light rate from 15% to 3%, improving the photovoltaic absorption capacity.

Although the African photovoltaic market has great potential, it still faces multiple challenges. The first is the financing problem: Africa's clean energy investment accounts for only 3% of the world, far below the annual target of US$200 billion. To this end, the African Development Bank launched the "Desert Power Generation Initiative" to provide financial support for projects through a mixed financing model (government + international institutions + private capital). For example, Ghana's Scaling Solar project reduced the electricity price to US$0.06/kWh through the risk-sharing mechanism of the World Bank IFC, attracting companies such as France's Engie to participate.

The second is the weak grid infrastructure. 90% of the rural population in sub-Saharan Africa cannot access the grid, and microgrids have become an important solution. The smart microgrid system designed by PowerChina in Tanzania adopts a modular design, can be quickly deployed and adapted to complex terrain, and has a cost per kilowatt-hour of as low as $0.08. It has been applied in more than 200 villages.

In the future, the African photovoltaic market will show three major trends: first, photovoltaic storage integration will become the mainstream, and it is expected that the installed capacity of energy storage will exceed 5GW in 2025; second, the rapid development of the green hydrogen industry chain, and green hydrogen projects in South Africa, Morocco and other countries will drive the demand for high-efficiency components; third, localized manufacturing will accelerate, and the battery component bases built by Chinese companies in Egypt and South Africa will gradually go into production, reducing logistics costs.