While African international locations have by no means imported so many photo voltaic panels from China, some are additionally creating their very own manufacturing and meeting capabilities.
Fifty international locations recorded all-time highs in imports of Chinese language photo voltaic panels in March 2026, while 60 others reached their highest ranges in six months, based on the newest report from Ember. Exports to Africa rose by 176% in comparison with February 2026 to succeed in 10 GW in March 2026, while exports to Asia doubled to succeed in 39 GW – two new all-time highs.
In Africa, Nigeria (+519%, +1.2 GW in comparison with February 2026), Kenya (+207%, +1.4 GW) and Ethiopia (+391%, +1.1 GW) all imported greater than 1 GW of photo voltaic photovoltaic expertise for the very first time in a single month, primarily within the type of photo voltaic cells.
Elsewhere, data had been set in different markets closely affected by excessive oil and gasoline costs, notably in Japan, Australia and the EU. The Center East was the one area to not see a rise in photo voltaic imports, with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz affecting commerce flows.
“Along with the rise in photo voltaic installations inside their borders, many African international locations are shifting up the photo voltaic worth chain by creating their manufacturing and meeting capabilities,” notes the specialist consultancy. Chinese language exports of cells and wafers have surged and surpassed these of panels in October 2025, with panels more and more being assembled exterior China.
As the results of excessive oil and gasoline costs reverberate throughout world vitality markets, options resembling solar energy, batteries and electrical automobiles will probably be essential in serving to international locations change into extra resilient and cut back their dependence on fossil fuels, based on Ember.
The consultancy reviews, based mostly on official information from Chinese language customs authorities, report exports of photo voltaic merchandise, batteries and electrical automobiles in March 2026, up 70% in comparison with March 2025 and 38% in comparison with February 2026, within the wake of the battle between the US, Israel and Iran.
Chinese language battery exports surged in March, as international locations sought to retailer photo voltaic electrical energy generated through the day to be used within the night.
A shift in direction of clear electrical energy
On 21 April, Ember revealed its report on clear applied sciences, revealing that these are more and more reaching a scale able to cushioning the impacts of worldwide shocks linked to fossil fuels. Thus, the report development in photo voltaic technology in 2025 was ample to exchange gas-generated electrical energy, equal to the overall LNG exports passing via the Strait of Hormuz final 12 months. The report additionally exhibits that the overall world fleet of electrical automobiles changed 1.8 million barrels per day of oil demand in 2025, equal to 13% of US crude oil manufacturing.
In different phrases, the rise of fresh electrical energy reached a brand new milestone in 2025, with clear vitality sources assembly all the expansion in world electrical energy demand, thereby stopping a rise in fossil gasoline manufacturing, based on a brand new report by the worldwide vitality assume tank Ember.
In Africa, the share of coal has nearly halved, falling from 45% to 24% of the vitality combine in only a few years, with renewables (26%) having overtaken coal by 2025, based on Ember’s estimates.
A number of African international locations depending on fossil fuels, resembling Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria, are additionally displaying indicators of an rising photo voltaic deployment. Based on Ember’s monitoring of photovoltaic photo voltaic panel exports from China, exports of panels to Africa elevated by 48% in 2025 in comparison with 2024, rising from 12.7 GW to 18.8 GW, indicating robust development in demand for photo voltaic vitality. Egypt imported greater than double the quantity of panels in 2025, at 2.3 GW, in comparison with 1.0 GW in 2024. Algeria’s photo voltaic panel imports in 2025 (2.1 GW) had been six occasions larger than in 2024 (0.35 GW).
Furthermore, six of the ten international locations most depending on gasoline for electrical energy technology in 2025 had been positioned within the Center East and North Africa. Ethiopia recorded the most important improve in hydroelectric technology (+8 TWh) in Africa in 2025, following the complete commissioning of the 5.15 GW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, now the continent’s largest hydroelectric energy station. This has nearly doubled Ethiopia’s hydroelectric technology, which rose from 17 TWh in 2023 to 32 TWh in 2025. Ethiopia alone accounted for 60% of Africa’s new hydroelectric technology in 2025.
