African Solar Market Heats Up With 60% Increase in Imports of PV Panels from China

According to study report by energy think tank Ember released on 26 August 2025, the solar market in Africa is heating up. Based on data collection from China’s customs for #PV modules, the exports during FY 2024-2025 ending on 30 June 2025 was 15,032 MW, representing more than 60% y-o-y increase from 9,300 MW.

The increase in PV sales is spread across most of Africa with 25 countries importing at least 100 MW during the last fiscal year. Algeria imported 1.2 GW of panels, up 33 times from the previous fiscal year. Sierra Leone stood out as the fastest growing market in sub-Saharan Africa with a 61% increase y-o-y.

In terms of volume, South Africa is the biggest importer with 3.8 GW of PV panels from China, while Nigeria is second (1.7 GW) and Algeria is third with (1.2 GW). Initial analysis shows that most of the growth is driven by small-scale systems, rather than utility-scale solar. The exception is the Itimpi 60-MW solar farm in Zambia that became operational in April 2024.

China dominates every stage of the PV global supply chain (#GSC). Its market share at various stages is simply staggering: polysilicon (80%), wafer (95%), cells (85%), and modules (80%).

Several countries have launched initiatives to challenge Chinese dominance. Through the Inflation Reduction Act, the USA offers subsidies to local manufacturers and have increased tariffs on PV imports. The European Union is promoting ‘Made in Europe’ under the #NetZero Industry Act, targeting to produced at least 40% of its PV panels needs by 2030. India has enacted its Production Linked Incentive (#PLI) and plans to add 100 GW of domestic module production capacity by 2030.

In 2021, China’s LONGi Green Energy Technology has partnered with ARTsolar to set up a module factory in South Africa with a capacity which has recently been upgraded to 500 MW. Italian Ecoprogetti recently doubled its manufacturing capacity to 1,000 MW at its assembly plant in Morocco. Egypt’s Sunprism and Nigeria’s Borno have seen new smaller PV assembly plants with capacities of 50 MW and 40 MW respectively. Solinc is a PV panel producer in Kenya established since 2011.

Other than LONGi (SHA: 601012), which is the leader with an annual production capacity of 100 GW, the other top Chinese PV manufacturers are Canadian Solar, Trina Solar, Jinko Solar, JA Solar, Sunpower and First Solar. In view of the growth potential of the African market, some manufacturers have taken the decision to relocate manufacturing on the continent.