Record photovoltaic additions and major infrastructure deals allow developing nations to bypass fossil fuel price shocks
3-MIN READ3-MINDulue MbachuPublished: 12:00pm, 7 Sep 2026Cost appears to be a deciding factor for most African countries when it comes to energy as they observe the factors that influence US and Chinese policy decisions.
With China’s advances in solar generation and battery technologies making acquisitions cheaper, a consensus is coalescing across the continent around renewables.
“Africa’s solar revolution is here,” said Sonia Dunlop, CEO of the Global Solar Council (GSC). “Growth is spreading to new markets across the continent, and rooftop and distributed systems are putting power directly into the hands of households and businesses.”
09:10Can the Middle East war turbocharge China’s global EV ambitions?Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East had delivered “two major fossil fuel supply shocks in four years” that “exposed the brutal cost of energy dependence”, Dunlop noted. But cheap solar and improved battery storage had enabled the rapid replacement of fossil fuels with solar power across Africa, she said.
