South Africa framed its G20 presidency as an African-focused effort aimed at placing the continent’s priorities at the centre of global discussions. A key theme was expanding energy access across Africa, a region rich in renewable resources yet burdened by severe energy poverty.
At the Global Citizen NOW summit, held in Africa for the first time, President Cyril Ramaphosa said this was a “culmination of a year-long effort to expand energy access across Africa”.
“Today, South Africa benefits from more than 17 gigawatts of installed renewable energy.
“We aim to increase this to 45 gigawatts by 2035, making renewable energy a central element of our national energy mix. These initiatives will ensure that the next gigawatts of renewable energy are built through local skills, local manufacturing and local innovation,” said Ramaphosa.
He said Africa represented the ultimate energy paradox.
“We have some of the world’s most abundant renewable energy resources: solar, wind and hydro. Yet some 40% of Africa’s population has no access to electricity.
“This energy poverty impacts nearly every facet of life, from clean cooking to access to medicines, to quality education, to economic activity,” he said.
The real challenge now is disciplined implementation, anchored in African ownership and aimed at transforming economies and shaping a more secure, inclusive future.
Global Citizen’s year-long Scaling Up Renewables in Africa campaign, backed by EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Ramaphosa, and supported by the IEA, secured major government and private-sector pledges aimed at quadrupling Africa’s renewable energy capacity by 2030.
Key private investments include:
• Harith General Partners boosting capacity from 1.5 GW to 5GW;
• Octopus Energy Generation expanding its Power Africa fund to $450m;
• CrossBoundary Energy securing $200m towards a $1bn project pipeline;
• ENERTRAG planning 1.2GW of grid-secure power for South Africa;
• Scatec scaling globally to 10GW;
• Sun King is committing to 50 million new off-grid solar systems by 2030.
Earlier commitments added further momentum, including substantial pledges from Globeleq, Energea, Pele Energy Group, TransEnergy Global and Genesis Energy, collectively targeting tens of gigawatts of new renewable capacity.
On the public-sector side, Team Europe pledged €13bn in financing instruments plus €2.1bn in expected private leverage, while the African Development Bank, Norway, the Development Bank of Southern Africa and Zambia all committed additional funding and capacity targets.
Together, these commitments form one of the largest co-ordinated efforts to date to expand affordable, renewable energy across the continent, positioning Africa for a major leap in clean power access and economic opportunity.
TimesLIVE
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