Africa

Investment in off-grid solar will be essential to provide electricity to 398 million people who are expected to be in energy poverty by 2030.

South Africa's announced 10% import duty on solar modules poses challenges for developers with tighter profit margins.

Local PV manufacturers in South Africa are talking with tier one producers to collaborate on local facilities for the South African market.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and FirstRand Bank have allocated €400 million (US$444 million) to support the development of solar PV and wind generation projects in South Africa.

AMEA Power is set to build one of Africa’s largest solar PV projects in Egypt, with a generation capacity of 1GW, after signing several PPAs.

Scatec has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company for a 1GW solar-plus-storage project.

Namibian utility NamPower has secured financing and EPC contractors for its 100MW Rosh Pinah solar PV project.

EliTe Solar has announced plans to build an 8GW cell and module manufacturing facility in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE) in Egypt.

Algeria’s state-owned power utility, Sonelgaz, proposed the 2GW plan to build 15 PV projects across the country.

The partnership aims to build two solar PV plants - Sidi Bouzid and Tozeur solar projects – each with 60MW of capacity.