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Africa's solar imports more than doubled since early 2024

Chinese solar panels imported by Africa, rolling 12-month totals in gigawatts.

Africa's century
  1. 1. By 2100, more than 1 in 3 people will be African
  2. 2. Nearly half the world's under-25s will be African by 2100
  3. 3. DR Congo is projected to outgrow the US by 2100
  4. 4. Kinshasa will soon be bigger than Paris and London combined
  5. 5. Two-thirds of the world's mobile money moves in Africa
  6. 6. Volcanic heat makes nearly 45% of the power Kenya generates
  7. 7. Africa's solar imports more than doubled since early 2024
  8. 8. DR Congo mines three-quarters of the world's cobalt
  9. 9. Nearly two in three people in Africa are still offline
  10. 10. Africa formally recycles less than 1% of its e-waste
  11. 11. Ethiopia added over a third of Africa's new renewable power
  12. 12. DR Congo now has more children than Brazil
  13. 13. Nigeria's cities now hold more people than Japan's
  14. 14. Sudan now has the world's most people displaced at home
  15. 15. Nigeria now has almost 25 million more people than Brazil
  16. 16. Six of the ten fastest-growing big cities are African
  17. 17. Africa now has more hungry people than Asia
  18. 18. Six in ten child deaths now happen in sub-Saharan Africa
  19. 19. Rwanda spread electricity faster than any country since 2014
23 GW

Africa imported 23 GW of Chinese solar panels in the 12 months to June 2026, up from 9.6 GW in early 2024.

3×

Africa outside South Africa nearly tripled its imports, from 3.7 GW to 11.2 GW in two years.

From 52% to 20%

South Africa's share of Africa's imports fell from 52% in 2023 to 20%: the boom has spread across the continent.

Source: Ember, analysis of China customs (GACC) solar export data, Jul 2025 – Jun 2026
the numbers & method
Africa's solar imports more than doubled since early 2024. Source: Ember, analysis of China customs (GACC) solar export data, Jul 2025 – Jun 2026.
Imports (GW)
12 months to Feb 20249.6
12 months to Jun 202515.0
12 months to Jun 202623.0

Claim types Fact

Rolling 12-month windows as published by Ember; windows are not calendar years. Pakistan figure from Ember Global Electricity Review 2025.

Published 17 Sep 2026

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what connects to this

005 power shift China makes more electricity than the US and EU combined 030 hotter planet India had 27 million ACs for 1.3 billion people 152 going electric Oil now makes less than a third of Saudi power