📝 By Laura Grant
More than 40% of the world’s electricity was generated using low-carbon energy sources – renewables plus nuclear – in 2024, according to Ember, an independent energy think tank. Solar has been driving the rise in renewables and contributed 6.9% of the electricity mix in 2024.
Fossil fuels are still the source of almost 60% of the world’s electricity, although down a bit from 60.6% in 2023. Coal is the biggest source at 34.4%, followed by gas at 22%.
Here in South Africa, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment recently issued a media statement to celebrate that coal had reached a new monthly low of 74.3% of the electricity mix in January 2025. Ten years ago, 90% of our electricity was from coal, in 2024 it was 82%, according to Ember’s data.
What is truly remarkable is that South Africa generated 8% of its electricity from solar in 2024. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s more than the global average of 7%, according to Ember.
Thanks to the rapid increase in renewables, South Africa generated 16.7% of its electricity from low-carbon sources in 2024. Only 3.5% of that was nuclear, five years ago nuclear contributed 5%.
In just five years, the amount of solar electricity generated in South Africa has increased from 4.9 TWh in 2019 to 19.9 TWh in 2024.
There’s been a massive increase in solar panel imports to South Africa. In 2023 alone, 4.3GW of solar panels were imported from China, another 3.8GW were imported in 2024. This is more likely a response to the erratic electricity supply than a burning desire to reduce the country’s carbon emissions, but either way it’s a win for the climate.
Other African countries are also importing solar panels from China to the tune of 12.9GW in 2024. South Africa is far and away the biggest importer, but Nigeria, Morocco and Egypt each imported at least 1GW of solar panel capacity in 2024.
In Africa as a whole, 25% of the electricity is generated from low-carbon sources, but solar contributes very little – only 4% of the mix in 2024. South Africa generates by far the most solar at 19.9 TWh in 2024, followed by Egypt (5.5 TWh). The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) generates the third highest amount of solar electricity (2.2 GWh) but only 2023 data is available.
Hydropower is the main source of low-carbon electricity, generating 17% of the continent’s electricity. In countries like Lesotho, the DRC, Ethiopia, Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia, Malawi, Uganda and Angola, most of the energy generated is hydro.
‘Though hydropower is a major source of electricity in the region, the increasing frequency of droughts makes it unreliable,’ said Dave Jones, Ember’s chief analyst.
Ember’s Global Electricity Review 2025 report states that 80 countries generated more than 50% of their electricity from clean sources in 2024. Although Ember only has 2024 data for six African countries, their 2023 data shows that 15 African countries generated more than half their electricity from clean sources.
The DRC and Ethiopia generate all their electricity from renewable sources, Namibia and Eswatini are close to 100%.
However, a few of those countries also have to import electricity to meet their needs. Namibia, for example, generates its own hydro and solar power, but it has to import around half of its electricity, mainly from South Africa. The same applies to Eswatini.
The amount of electricity generated in many African countries is relatively low. The International Energy Agency estimates that in 2023 only about half of the population of sub-Saharan African countries had access to electricity, so it’s clear that the electricity supply will have to increase significantly. For comparison, in South Africa, 94% of the population has access to electricity.
‘African countries have immense solar potential and most of it is untapped,’ said Jones. Enabling African countries with affordable financing can unleash their solar potential and help provide reliable and secure power supply in the region.’