• Africa’s grid lag threatens renewable energy rollout, experts warn

• Transmission investment under 15% of power spending, IEA says

• $454B needed by 2030 to modernize power networks, AfDB estimates

Africa’s energy transition could stall unless the continent rapidly expands and strengthens its power transmission networks, Keith Katyora, head of power systems at the Energy Council of South Africa, said on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, according to Ghanaian media reports.

Katyora said renewable projects are advancing faster than the infrastructure needed to connect them to consumers. The International Energy Agency’s World Energy Investment 2024 report backs this view, showing that spending on African electricity grids represents less than 15% of total power investment — well below the global average of more than 40%.

Renewable generation is growing quickly, with new solar and wind projects planned across Africa. In South Africa, state utility Eskom estimates it will need 14,200 kilometers of additional transmission lines by 2035 to accommodate rising renewable capacity.

To close this gap, South Africa’s Energy Ministry launched the Independent Transmission Program (ITP) in 2024, allowing private companies to build and operate parts of the national grid.

Across the continent, the African Development Bank (AfDB) estimates the power sector will require $454 billion in investment by 2030, much of it for transmission and distribution. In March 2024, the AfDB and World Bank announced a $1.3 billion regional fund to improve power links in Southern and East Africa — part of efforts to cut energy losses that the IEA puts at nearly 15% across the continent.

The AfDB and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) note that more than 60% of Africa’s state-owned power utilities operate at a loss, limiting their ability to finance grid upgrades. The resulting infrastructure gap could leave much of the continent’s new green capacity underused.

The IEA warns that without faster network expansion, a growing share of generated electricity will never reach consumers — undermining the profitability of clean-energy projects and slowing progress toward universal access.

Abdel-Latif Boureima