Mark Hankins

Launch of our flagship report tracking the rapid rise of solar + storage across Africa. This latest edition provides a clear picture of today's market landscape and the outlook ahead-highlighting where momentum is building, what's changing, and where the next wave of opportunity lies. The report features in-depth analysis and country deep dives across 10 key markets: Egypt, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. It also explores how rooftop solar can accelerate Africa's energy transition while unlocking economic growth and job creation, and offers a dedicated chapter on scaling private finance to expand both utility-scale and distributed solar deployment. With practical policy recommendations and an investor-focused perspective, the Africa Market Outlook 2026-2029 equips decision-makers with the insights needed to help African countries tap into their massive solar + storage potential-and turn ambition into action. 

Southern Africa is entering a new phase of solar market development, transitioning from early procurement-led growth to more complex questions around system integration, grid capacity, and long-term market sustainability. In several countries across the region, particularly South Africa, mature utility-scale and corporate PPA markets are now colliding with transmission constraints, curtailment risks, evolving market rules, and increasing demand for flexibility through storage and hybrid solutions. This session will focus on how Southern African solar markets can be taken to the next level by aligning policy frameworks, infrastructure planning, and private-sector innovation, drawing lessons from recent reforms, emerging commercial models, and regional power market dynamics. Through a regional overview followed by a targeted panel discussion, the session will provide practical insights into how governments, system operators, and industry can sustain investment momentum while building a more resilient and integrated power system. 

West Africa represents one of the most promising yet structurally complex solar markets globally: electricity demand is rising rapidly, solar resources are abundant, and national targets are ambitious, yet deployment continues to fall short of potential due to persistent financial, regulatory, and institutional barriers. This session will move beyond high-level access narratives to focus on the practical challenges that are shaping today's solar market in West Africa, including off-taker risk, tariff viability, foreign exchange exposure, uneven policy implementation across national and sub-national levels, and the realities of developing local supply chains. Anchored by a national solar industry association from the region, the session will combine a data-driven introduction with a candid panel discussion among policymakers, developers, investors, and corporate energy users, highlighting where progress is being made, what reforms are still needed, and how public and private actors can work together to unlock the next wave of bankable solar projects across utility-scale, C&I, and decentralized segments.