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Africa Is Preparing for an Energy Transition. We Are Not Preparing the People Who Must Lead It.
Mission 300 assumes capable institutions. The Twin Transition assumes governance-literate regulators. Africa's energy systems are digitising rapidly. But who is training the policymakers, energy economists, and digital regulators who must govern all of it? Vincent Egoro asks.
What South Africa Can Learn From Morocco's Industrial Strategy and Why Electricity Is the Key
Morocco scored 0.8415 on the AfDB's 2025 Africa Industrialisation Index. South Africa scored 0.8396, its first time below Morocco since 2010. Manufacturing fell from 21% to 12% of South Africa's GDP. ETA analyses what produced the divergence and what electricity has to do with it.
Africa's Solar Boom Runs on Lead. Here Is Why and What Changes When It Doesn't.
Lithium-ion dominates the global clean energy transition. Africa's off-grid solar market still relies on lead-acid batteries. ETA explains why affordability, not technology, is keeping older battery chemistry alive, and what must change before households can switch.
Africa Is Home to 86% of the World's Electricity Access Gap. The Latest SDG7 Report Explains Why.
Sub-Saharan Africa is now home to 563 million of the world's 655 million people without electricity, and the gap is becoming more concentrated. ETA Analysis examines what the 2026 SDG7 Energy Progress Report reveals about Africa's energy access challenge, and why current progress is still off track.
Africa Improved Faster Than Any Region on the Energy Transition Index. Its Grid Performance Barely Changed.
Africa recorded the world's fastest improvement in energy transition readiness in 2026. Yet grid reliability declined, infrastructure remained the weakest of any region, and system performance barely improved. ETA Analysis examines what the data actually shows.
Nigeria's Solar Boom Runs on Lead. Nobody Is Tracking Where It Goes.
Nigeria's solar expansion relies heavily on lead-acid batteries that typically fail within a few years. Yet nobody can say with confidence where most are recycled or disposed of. ETA Analysis examines the growing waste stream, health risks and governance gap behind off-grid energy access.
South Africa Has Opened the Door to New Oil and Gas. Guyana Shows Why Countries Rarely Walk Back Through It.
South Africa has opened the door to new oil and gas development. Guyana shows what happens next: growing dependence on hydrocarbon revenues, difficult policy trade-offs and shrinking room to change course. ETA Analysis on the risks policymakers should confront now.
Nigeria Wants Your Data Hosted at Home. Its Grid Cannot Power the Servers That Would Hold It.
Nigeria wants its most sensitive data stored at home. The problem is that data centres need reliable electricity, and the grid cannot consistently provide it. Vincent Egoro on the hidden energy challenge behind Nigeria's push for data sovereignty.
What Reliable Electricity Actually Does to Income in Rural Africa: Evidence From Kenya, Nigeria, and Rwanda
Reliable electricity can increase incomes, transform local industries and expand economic opportunity—but only under the right conditions. Evidence from Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda shows why the quality of access matters more than the connection itself.
Why Record Blended Finance Has Not Closed Africa's Energy Access Gap
Blended finance set records in 2025, mobilising $8.40 per dollar of MIGA guarantees and reaching $18.7 billion globally. Yet it still represents less than 0.5% of annual climate finance needs. Why has it failed to close Africa's energy investment gap?
Africa Wants Green Exports but Lacks the Carbon Data to Prove It
The EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism is live. African exporters of steel, cement, fertiliser, and aluminium must now prove the embodied carbon in their products or pay punitive default tariffs. The problem: Africa lacks regional Life Cycle Inventory databases to do so.
African Energy Projects Are Funded to Be Built but Not to Be Maintained
75% of solar products in sub-Saharan Africa no longer work. ETA Analysis explains why the financing architecture produces that outcome, and what three reforms would change it.