Mission 300 initiative advances off-grid solar access, aiming to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania — A new push to expand off-grid solar solutions is gaining momentum following the recent Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit, where African Heads of State, private sector leaders, development partners, and civil society gathered to align on universal electricity access

Spearheaded by the World Bank Group and African Development Bank, Mission 300 aims to connect 300 million people across Sub-Saharan Africa to electricity by 2030.

At the heart of this initiative lies off-grid solar—positioned as the most cost-effective solution to deliver nearly half of the connections required to meet Mission 300 targets. With over 560 million people already benefiting from off-grid solar globally, and the majority in Africa, the model is proving its adaptability and transformative impact across households, institutions, and micro-enterprises.

The summit underscored that off-grid energy access not only enhances resilience and productivity but also presents a US$5.6bn opportunity in household savings and new income generation. Furthermore, off-grid solar is poised to energise two million micro-enterprises and create thousands of jobs in an industry already supporting more than 120,000 formal and informal workers continent-wide.

Financing off-grid growth

To accelerate deployment, the World Bank and its partners are calling for stronger financial commitments. Public funding, including subsidies and grants, is essential to de-risk investment in fragile and remote regions—home to 82% of Africa’s unelectrified population. Evidence from Nigeria’s National Electrification Program demonstrated rapid uptake when subsidies reduced the cost of solar home systems, connecting 5.5 million people in just two years.

Alongside public finance, private investment—through both debt and equity—remains a critical pillar. Platforms like Zafiri, which aim to mobilise US$1bn in patient equity, are unlocking new capital and bridging the funding gap for distributed renewable energy (DRE) companies. Innovative financing mechanisms, including local currency instruments and climate-linked finance, are also gaining traction.

Governments are central to this ecosystem. By embedding off-grid solar into national electrification plans, offering tax and tariff relief, and phasing out fossil fuel subsidies in favour of DRE investments, governments can catalyse a thriving off-grid industry. Kenya’s experience stands as a beacon—tax exemptions have enabled the country’s off-grid market to power more than 10% of its population, while also fostering solar adoption in agriculture and ICT sectors.

As Africa accelerates its energy transition, Mission 300 provides a timely and ambitious blueprint. With bold partnerships and continued innovation, distributed solar technologies can deliver on the promise of energy for all—ensuring no one is left behind.

Data centres are driving energy demand globally. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

AI is set to drive surging electricity demand from data centres, currently being rolled out in number across Africa, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA)

It poses a significant potential challenge for energy providers in sub-Saharan Africa, with the continent already lagging far behind other regions in terms of spare power capacity.

The IEA projects that electricity demand from data centres worldwide is set to more than double by 2030 to around 945 terawatt-hours (TWh), almost as much electricity as the whole of Japan uses today.

“AI is one of the biggest stories in the energy world today – but until now, policy makers and markets lacked the tools to fully understand the wide-ranging impacts,” said IEA executive director Fatih Birol, launching a new report.

The rise in global electricity demand is likely to put pressure not only on Africa’s scarce power resources, but even more so in developed regions.

“The effects will be particularly strong in some countries. For example, in the United States, data centres are on course to account for almost half of the growth in electricity demand; in Japan, more than half; and in Malaysia, as much as one-fifth.”

The report notes that Africa has the lowest energy consumption at less than 1 kWh of data centre electricity consumption per capita in 2024, rising to slightly less than 2 kWh per capita by the end of the decade.

However, there are strong differences within the region, with South Africa showing strong growth and per-capita consumption more than 15 times larger than the continental average in 2030, with an intensity higher than 25 kWh per capita.

Moreover, despite the strong increase, data centre electricity demand growth still accounts for less than 10 per cent of global electricity demand growth between 2024 and 2030, the IEA notes.

Other key drivers, such as industry output growth and electrification, the deployment of electric vehicles (EVs), and the adoption of air conditioning, lead the way.

However, it notes, while the absolute growth may appear smaller, data centres, unlike EVs, tend to concentrate in specific locations, making their integration into the grid potentially more challenging.

A diverse range of energy sources will be tapped to meet data centres’ rising electricity needs, according to the report – though renewables and natural gas are set to take the lead due to their cost-competitiveness and availability in key markets.

Across all cases, renewables play a pivotal role in meeting the growing electricity demand, the report notes, however, fossil fuels remain important for meeting the near-term surge in demand up to 2030.

The long-term growth of renewables to meet rising AI and data centre demand could put pressure on the resources needed to complete new clean projects, especially as more developed regions race to build additional capacity.

A major consideration related to the rapid growth of AI and data centres is the demand for critical minerals, the report notes.

Apart from bulk materials like steel and concrete, the construction of data centres requires sizeable amounts of several minerals and metals, such as copper, aluminium, silicon, gallium, rare earth elements and battery minerals.

Here, Africa might also face the task of shoring up its own supply chains, rather than as a supplier of raw materials and commodities to the rest of the world.

“Securing the supply of affordable and reliable power for data centres is at the heart of the challenge of energy for AI,” the report notes.

“In particular, the growing expansion of AI data centres has amplified the urgency of addressing power equipment supply chain constraints.”

Countries that want to benefit from the potential of AI, the report adds, need to quickly accelerate new investments in electricity generation and grids, improve the efficiency and flexibility of data centres, and strengthen the dialogue between policy makers, the tech sector and the energy industry.

Read more: 

Nigeria must scale up decentralised energy says renewables expert

Financing costs a barrier to scaling up power in Africa says IEA

Raxio's DRC data centre lands prestigious certification

Powering the CIV1 data centre in Cote'd Ivoire

Ivanhoe Mines announces major boost in hydropower for Kamoa-Kakula. (Image source: Ivanhoe Mines)

Ivanhoe Mines reported that Kamoa-Kakula has entered a new phase of growth, marked by the successful startup of its on-site copper smelter

This milestone was made possible by a recent increase in imported hydroelectric power, which rose by 20MW to 70MW in mid-March and is set to reach 100MW in the coming days—doubling recent supply. With this added power, the project delivered record copper production in the last two weeks of March, exceeding its 2025 annualised guidance. This strong performance was also supported by the Phase 3 concentrator, which achieved record throughput and surpassed its design capacity.

“Despite recent volatility in global markets and with virtually all global equities knocked down by panic … and computerised trading algorithms … Ivanhoe Mines has a very strong balance sheet and generates powerful cash flows … In addition, we are in a privileged position with Kamoa-Kakula as one of the lowest-cost copper producers in our industry… and we expect our operating costs to decline even further as our state-of-the-art direct-to-blister smelter ramps up this year… The production of 99.7% pure copper anodes will significantly reduce our C1 cash costs due to a more than 50% reduction in transportation costs per unit of contained copper and the enjoyment of by-product sulphuric acid sales … a critical commodity in great demand in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s copper industry,” said Robert Friedland, Ivanhoe Mines’ founder and executive co-chairman.

“We are delighted that Kamoa-Kakula’s growing pains, which led to power challenges, are behind us following our successful efforts to secure additional imported hydroelectricity … with more imported hydroelectric power from the Southern Africa Power Pool on its way very soon. We now have in place a long-term energy security program that future-proofs our energy mix as we continue to grow into the very top ranks of the world’s largest copper production complexes,” added Marna Cloete, president and CEO of Ivanhoe Mines.

“We are therefore sufficiently encouraged to inaugurate the startup of our state-of-the-art Kamoa-Kakula smelter… one of the largest and most technologically sophisticated smelters in the world. With the smelter coming online, we will no longer simply be exporting copper concentrate – we will export the world’s greenest copper anodes for the energy transition. As the world wakes up to a generational copper deficit, we have the assets, the people, and the infrastructure to deliver this responsibly sourced and most critical of all metals to world markets,” Friedland concluded.

Also read: Ivanhoe Mines expands exploration footprint with new Zambian licences

TotalEnergies has completed the acquisition of SN Power, collecting with it various hydropower assets in Africa, notably in Uganda with Bujagali Falls. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

TotalEnergies has completed the acquisition of SN Power, collecting with it various hydropower assets in Africa, notably in Uganda

The portfolio includes a 28.3% stake in Uganda’s 225 MW Bujagali hydropower plant.

“The acquisition of SN Power will allow TotalEnergies to implement its multi-energy strategy in Uganda, where the company is already active in (oil and gas) exploration and production,” it said in a statement.

The Bujagali plant currently meets more than 25% of Uganda’s peak electricity demand.

The acquisition of SN Power also gives TotalEnergies a stake in two other projects under development in Rwanda (206 MW) and Malawi (360 MW).

SN Power was a 100% subsidiary of Scatec, a Norwegian renewable energy company, with interests in renewable hydropower projects in Africa through a joint venture (51% SN Power) alongside Norfund and British International Investment.

Through the deal, TotalEnergies also acquires a team of hydropower development experts, strengthening its competencies in the field.

At the time of the original SN Power announcement, in June 2024, TotalEnergies had interests in hydropower projects worldwide with a gross capacity of 3.7 GW, including  1.5 GW under development in Mozambique with the Mphanda Nkuwa scheme.

Separately, it also closed the acquisition of VSB Group, a European wind and solar developer with extensive operations in Germany, and announced new deals with renewables developer RES, with a view to acquiring renewables projects in Canada.

“The completion of these three acquisitions — in Europe, North America and Africa — will contribute to our targets of 35 GW of gross renewable capacity by 2025 and over 100 TWh of electricity production by 2030,” said Stéphane Michel, president, gas, renewables and power at TotalEnergies.

“These acquisitions strengthen our operations in markets where we are deploying our Integrated Power business, like Germany and in North America, and in countries, such as Uganda, where we can leverage synergies with our exploration and production activities.

“Furthermore, these acquisitions will contribute to cash flow growth and to our goal of reaching our 12% profitability target in the electricity segment.”