Northern Africa

The Global Solar Council’s Africa market outlook report says the continent saw its fastest year for solar growth to date in 2025. Its medium-term outlook forecasts Africa to install over 31.5 GW of solar by 2029, with distributed and utility-scale markets set to continue their expansion across an increasing number of countries.

The Chinese manufacturer will supply 5.5 GWh of energy storage products to Saudi Arabia and another 6 GWh to Egypt, as it works to expand its global footprint.

The Africa Solar Industry Association (AFSIA) has now identified 23.4 GW of operational solar projects across the continent but when taking into account Chinese PV export data, estimates total installed capacity in Africa could reach over 63 GW.

WFES 2026 in Abu Dhabi underscored growing momentum for solar, storage, and C&I renewables across MENA, with batteries emerging as a key enabler for grid stability, agriculture, and data centers. Industry leaders pointed to Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia as key growth markets, highlighting rising interest in AI-driven data centers, solar-plus-storage solutions, and a broadening regional supply chain.

Egypt’s Kemet has signed three agreements with Chinese companies over the last week, covering plans for a 5 GW solar cell complex, a 5 GWh battery energy storage factory and Egypt’s first solar inverter factory.

The consortium expects to reach Final Investment Decision (FID) on the full-scale project in the Ain Sokhna Industrial Zone in the coming months, while Brazil’s Federal Court provisionally ordered the suspension of construction activities of Solatio’s project in the State of Piauí.

Latest report from energy think tank Dii Desert Energy says that with the Middle East and North Africa’s project pipeline of renewables now standing at 202 GW, solar is likely to drive the region past its aggregated national ambitions for renewables of 235 GW by 2030.

Scatec has inked a 25-year power purchase agreement in Egypt for a 1.95 GW solar, 3.9 GWh battery energy storage project, representing the developer’s largest investment to date.

RWE has started commissioning a 100 MW electrolyzer in Germany to supply renewable hydrogen under long-term contracts, while Hydrogen Utopia International and Hydrogen Systems are advancing plans to build waste-to-hydrogen plants in Saudi Arabia.

According to the developers, the $700 million giant project will be Africa’s largest single-site hybrid renewable facility. Amea Power began construction before financing was completed.