Nigeria now imports more solar panels than generators
Nigeria's imports of solar cells and panels vs power generators, US$ million, 2022–2025, as Nigeria reported them.
- 1. By 2100, more than 1 in 3 people will be African
- 2. Nearly half the world's under-25s will be African by 2100
- 3. DR Congo is projected to outgrow the US by 2100
- 4. Kinshasa will soon be bigger than Paris and London combined
- 5. Two-thirds of the world's mobile money moves in Africa
- 6. Volcanic heat makes nearly 45% of the power Kenya generates
- 7. Africa's solar imports more than doubled since early 2024
- 8. DR Congo mines three-quarters of the world's cobalt
- 9. Nearly two in three people in Africa are still offline
- 10. Africa formally recycles less than 1% of its e-waste
- 11. Ethiopia added over a third of Africa's new renewable power
- 12. Nigeria's cities now hold more people than Japan's
- 13. Sudan now has the world's most people displaced at home
- 14. Nigeria now has almost 25 million more people than Brazil
- 15. Six of the ten fastest-growing big cities are African
- 16. Africa now has more hungry people than Asia
- 17. Six in ten child deaths now happen in sub-Saharan Africa
- 18. Rwanda spread electricity faster than any country since 2014
- 19. Nigeria now eats more rice than Japan
- 20. More sub-Saharan Africans now have mobile money than bank accounts
- 21. Sub-Saharan Africa's cities now hold more people than Latin America's
- 22. DR Congo tripled its copper mining in ten years
- 23. Nitrogen dioxide over Khartoum fell 39% after war began
- 24. Countries mostly without electricity fell from 33 to 15
- 25. Seven in ten West African mobile money accounts sit idle
- 26. Nigeria became the third-biggest sender of students abroad
- 27. Guinea overtook Australia as the world's biggest bauxite miner
- 28. DR Congo passed Chile in refined copper
- 29. Burkina Faso now sends half its exports to the UAE
- 30. Nouakchott's mobile internet sped from Africa's slowest to top 30
- 31. Nigeria now imports more solar panels than generators
- 32. Zimbabwe climbed to fourth among the world's lithium miners
Nigeria's solar cell and panel imports in 2025, ten times the $36 m of 2022.
Solar imports over generator imports in 2025. Generators fell from $257 m in 2022 to $138 m; solar passed them in 2024.
The year the country of the backyard generator began buying more solar than generators: a cheaper power path for homes and shops off a weak grid.
the numbers & method
| Year | Solar panels (m) | Generators (m) |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 36 | 257 |
| 2023 | 21 | 187 |
| 2024 | 253 | 103 |
| 2025 | 370 | 138 |
Claim types Fact · Interpretation
UN Comtrade public API, annual data, reporter Nigeria (566), partner World, imports, classification H6 (HS 2022), customs value (CIF), read from the Comtrade API one year per call. Solar = HS 854142 (photovoltaic cells not assembled in modules) + 854143 (photovoltaic cells assembled in modules or made up into panels). Generators = HS 850211 + 850212 + 850213 (diesel/semi-diesel generating sets, up to 75 kVA, 75–375 kVA, over 375 kVA) + 850220 (spark-ignition, i.e. petrol, generating sets). US$ million: solar 35.89 (2022: 2.56 + 33.33), 21.09 (2023: 1.38 + 19.71), 253.04 (2024: 163.19 + 89.86), 369.68 (2025: 70.10 + 299.58); generators 256.57 (2022: 95.99 + 62.99 + 73.03 + 24.56), 186.60 (2023: 56.22 + 45.57 + 72.83 + 11.98), 103.43 (2024: 32.09 + 27.91 + 32.08 + 11.35), 137.90 (2025: 52.38 + 35.33 + 46.76 + 3.43). Sums and ratio are progrss calculations (369.68 ÷ 137.90 = 2.68). Values are in current US dollars: the naira's 2023–24 devaluation cut imports of both goods. HS 854142 is large in 2024–25 (43,700 t in 2025) and may include assembled panels filed as cells; both codes are solar. Small petrol generators may be under-recorded, so the generator figure is a floor. Earlier years are not comparable (before HS 2022, code 854140 also held LEDs). Takeaway 3's second clause is Interpretation.
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