Africa’s power sector often celebrates rising installed capacity. But that number can hide outages, grid losses and unreliable electricity. Here is what it really means.
Energy poverty in Africa remains high in 2026 as population growth outpaces electrification, erasing gains and reshaping access policy.
Are mini-grids and national grids in Africa complementary or competing models? This explainer unpacks the trade-offs for access, investment and growth.
There is a phrase that has followed Africa through almost every global climate forum in recent years: “clean energy for people and planet.” And it sounds inclusive, moral and hard to argue against....
I grew up learning how to adapt to electricity failure. You learn early what time power usually goes out, you know when to charge phones, when to pump water, and when to run appliances. You learn the...
“Only 14% of committed mini-grid funding has actually been disbursed.” That figure should stop every energy conversation in its tracks. I have spent years travelling through African communities where...
I grew up counting nights by how dark they felt. In our part of Nigeria, as in most parts of Africa, darkness was not just the absence of light; it was a condition that shaped behaviour. When the sun...
There is a sound I remember from my childhood, not the noise of generators or the crackle of candles, but the soft murmur of neighbours talking in the dark. Entire evenings lit only by moonlight or...
There is a sentence repeated in nearly every African energy policy document: “universal access by 2030.” It is optimistic, visionary and mathematically impossible. With just five years to go, Africa...
When I think about the childhoods many African children are living today, I am transported back to my own: a small house, a kerosene lantern that flickered more than it shone, and the low, constant...
Some crises announce themselves loudly, while others unfold quietly, suffocating people long before the world names them. Africa’s energy crisis belongs to the latter. It is spoken of in terms of...
On the morning the G20 released its South Africa Declaration, a senior official in Abuja joked quietly to a colleague: “Let me guess, they want us to be green, but not too green; use gas, but not too...