Solar share of electricity — all countries

Solar share of electricity — Sub-Saharan Africa

Solar share of electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2024 — 4.83%. Since 2000, the indicator has risen by 4.83 pp.

2024 4.83% +0.67 pp vs 2023
World rank
Period maximum 4.83%2024
Period minimum 0%2000

Trend over time

2000–2024 · % of generation

Solar share of electricity — Sub-Saharan Africa, 2000–202402462000200320062009201220152018202120242000: 0%2001: 0%2002: 0.01%2003: 0.01%2004: 0.01%2005: 0.01%2006: 0.01%2007: 0.01%2008: 0.01%2009: 0.02%2010: 0.04%2011: 0.06%2012: 0.09%2013: 0.12%2014: 0.37%2015: 0.68%2016: 0.83%2017: 1.07%2018: 1.26%2019: 1.54%2020: 1.95%2021: 2.35%2022: 3.25%2023: 4.17%2024: 4.83%
Change over the period: +4.83 pp Annual average: 0.2 pp

Comparison, 2024

How the value compares with the world and the groups this territory belongs to: Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa 4.83%
World computed 6.94%
Solar share of electricity — Sub-Saharan Africa, by year Sub-Saharan Africa All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2024 4.83 +0.67 pp
2023 4.17 +0.92 pp
2022 3.25 +0.9 pp
2021 2.35 +0.41 pp
2020 1.95 +0.41 pp
2019 1.54 +0.28 pp
2018 1.26 +0.19 pp
2017 1.07 +0.24 pp
2016 0.83 +0.15 pp
2015 0.68 +0.31 pp
2014 0.37 +0.25 pp
2013 0.12 +0.03 pp
2012 0.09 +0.02 pp
2011 0.06 +0.02 pp
2010 0.04 +0.02 pp
2009 0.02 +0.01 pp
2008 0.01 +0 pp
2007 0.01 −0 pp
2006 0.01 +0 pp
2005 0.01 −0 pp
2004 0.01 −0 pp
2003 0.01 +0 pp
2002 0.01 +0.01 pp
2001 0 +0 pp
2000 0

About the indicator

The share of electricity generated by solar plants in a country's total generation. The fastest-growing series in all of energy statistics: where twenty years ago the share was measured in hundredths of a percent, it now runs into tens. The figure depends less on how much sun there is than on policy and prices: the leaders are not the sunniest countries but those that started building earlier. The flip side of that growth is the daily cycle: at noon solar pushes out the other sources, and in the evening it is gone altogether.

Important: The World Bank has no separate series for solar — there it sits inside “other renewables” together with biomass and geothermal. Aggregates for groups of countries are weighted by generation in terawatt-hours and computed from 2000 onward: there is no weight before that.

Source: Yearly Electricity Data (Ember), license CC BY 4.0.