VICTORIA FALLS – The International Solar Alliance (ISA) has launched a new blueprint aimed at accelerating the deployment of solar energy across Africa.
Officials argued that the continent must move beyond years of reports highlighting its vast renewable energy potential and focus instead on how to turn ambition into projects.
The “Solarising Africa” initiative, unveiled during the alliance’s regional engagement in Zimbabwe, sets out a framework for governments, investors and development partners to expand solar deployment across the continent.
The framework addresses obstacles including fragmented policies, expensive financing, inadequate infrastructure and limited local manufacturing capacity.
The initiative comes as African countries face rising electricity demand and pressure to expand access to power while reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels. Speakers at the launch said the continent’s challenge was no longer a lack of evidence about the potential of solar energy, but the absence of a clear, coordinated pathway for delivering projects at scale.
“It’s an exciting milestone,” the International Solar Alliance’s director-general, Ashish Khanna said. “For far too long, there have been too many reports talking about how solar is important for Africa and why solar is the real potential. But there has been no real framework that can guide the countries on step-by-step sequencing of how to realize that potential.”
The blueprint was developed with the Regional Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, the Energy Transitions Commission and the Centre for Economic Transition at the London School of Economics. Its backers say it is intended to provide an implementation framework built around existing African experiences and projects rather than simply setting new targets.
Namita Mukherjee, the strategist planning specialist at ISA, who presented the framework, said the initiative was designed to bring together efforts that are currently scattered across countries, institutions, financing platforms and sectors.
“Solarising Africa therefore was conceived differently,” Mukherjee said. “We wanted to create an implementation blueprint, which is grounded in proven African case studies, covering the entire pathway from policy to finance to deployment.”
The report comes at a time when several factors are converging to make large-scale solar deployment increasingly urgent.
Solar technology has become more affordable, demand for electricity is rising and African governments have adopted national energy plans with targets for expanding access.
Mukherjee said 48 countries had endorsed the Dar es Salaam Declaration and 35 national energy compacts contained binding targets for 2030.
Meanwhile, imports of solar panels reached 18.8 gigawatts in 2025, representing an increase of nearly 50% from the previous year, according to figures presented at the launch. Energy security is also becoming an increasingly important economic concern, with fuel imports accounting for about 23% of the continent’s total imports. At the same time, Africa is making long-term infrastructure decisions that could shape its energy systems for decades.
“The infrastructure is not yet locked in,” Mukherjee said. “The infrastructure choices which will be made today will shape Africa for decades.”
The blueprint identifies policy certainty, affordable finance and political commitment as among the most important conditions for expanding solar projects.
Less than 60% of African countries currently run renewable energy auctions or tender programmes, according to the launch report, while even fewer regularly award contracts. Financing remains another major barrier.
Mukherjee said the principal risk for many projects was not the solar technology itself but the cost and availability of capital, including local currency risks.
“Local currency is the risk. Technology is not the risk,” she said.
The report also emphasises the need for governments to build institutions capable of coordinating solar programmes and delivering projects. Without political commitment and effective delivery institutions, other reforms could stall in bureaucratic processes and poor coordination between government ministries, the presentation said.
The framework focuses on four major areas of opportunity, which are, distributed renewable energy for last-mile electricity access; solar-powered agriculture; solar-based electric mobility; and utility-scale solar combined with stronger regional electricity connections.
Distributed energy, including mini-grids and standalone systems, could play a central role in reaching communities that remain beyond the reach of conventional national electricity networks.
Solar for agriculture is another major pillar, with a focus on irrigation, agricultural growth chains and food value chains.
The initiative is also examining the growing connection between energy and transport as electric two- and three-wheelers and other forms of electric mobility become more economically viable.
At the largest scale, the blueprint calls for increased utility-scale solar development and greater regional interconnection, including what officials described as a longer-term “One Grid Africa” approach.
But speakers stressed that expanding solar generation alone would not be enough.
Africa Union Commissioner for Infrastructure, and Energy, Lerato Dorothy Mataboge, said Africa must ensure that its renewable energy transition contributes to industrialisation and creates opportunities for African companies and workers rather than simply importing technologies and equipment.
“As we talk about solarising Africa, we need to ensure that we retain the industrial capacity and strengthen the industrial capacity on the continent,” Mataboge said.
Africa must consider the entire solar value chain, including battery storage, transmission infrastructure and the production of equipment, she said.
“If you’re going to deploy solar, you need to have battery storage capacity. You need to have transmission capacity,” Mataboge said.
She called for greater localisation of technology production and financing, as well as increased participation by African professionals and businesses in the continent’s solar expansion.
“It’s quite important that the alliance is enabling an accelerated transition into solar,” she said. “But we do need to ensure that we keep keen focus on African localisation and on ensuring that we reach our industrialisation capabilities.”
The blueprint identifies four cross-cutting areas needed to support its major solar opportunities, from the digitalisation of utilities, capacity building and skills development, stronger financing ecosystems to local manufacturing and value chains.
The report also sets out a long-term vision of increasing solar capacity from an estimated 20 to 22 gigawatts currently to between 150 and 200 gigawatts by 2030, 500 gigawatts by 2040 and one terawatt by 2050.
Under that scenario, solar could increase from about 3% to 4% of Africa’s electricity generation to as much as 40% by mid-century, supported by energy storage, stronger electricity grids and regional interconnections.
Mukherjee acknowledged that the one-terawatt goal could appear ambitious but said the continent already had successful examples that could be expanded. The report cites projects and programmes in countries including Nigeria, where distributed energy programmes have supported mini-grid expansion, and Egypt, where utility-scale projects have benefited from long-term power purchase agreements.
“This may seem utopian, but the evidence is already there and the answers are all African,” Mukherjee said.
The International Solar Alliance also plans to establish communities of practice around different solar opportunities, beginning with a community focused on the solarisation of agriculture.
Seven founding members were expected to join the initiative at the regional meeting, officials said.
Other priorities include building technical and cross-disciplinary skills, developing national solar road maps, mobilising blended finance through an Africa-focused solar facility and creating a digital dashboard to track progress and identify bankable projects.
