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Funding and M&A Roundup: Jupiter Secures $500 Million Credit Facility

Ladakh Invites Bids for 1-3 kW Rooftop Solar Systems in 7,000 Households

Aggressive Bidding Puts India’s Energy Storage Push at Crossroads

Delhi Development Authority Invites Bids for 2.2 MW Solar Carport Project

Tata Power Renewables Commissions 198 MW Captive Wind Project in Tamil Nadu

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					</table>Africa’s solar market has entered a new phase of scale and credibility, with the Africa Solar Industry Association (<a href="https://www.afsiasolar.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AFSIA</a>) tracking more than 42,000 solar projects across the continent by the end of 2025, representing a total identified pipeline of 296 GW, of which 23.4 GW is already operational.
While only a fraction of this pipeline is currently operational, the scale signals long-term momentum.
For years, Africa was viewed as a marginal solar market accounting for less than 1% of global capacity, largely due to incomplete project tracking and weak official reporting. That perception has now been overturned. By incorporating new data sources, most notably Chinese photovoltaic module export data, the report sharply increases estimates of Africa’s installed solar capacity.
The data also highlights the pace of recent growth. Africa added around 14.8 GW of new solar capacity in 2025, compared to roughly 9.3 GW in 2023. Operational solar capacity reached 23.4 GW by the end of 2025, reflecting a 26% year-on-year increase.
<a href="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Africa-Solar-annual-installations.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-89324 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Africa-Solar-annual-installations.png" alt="Africa Solar annual installations" width="1516" height="806" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Africa-Solar-annual-installations.png 1516w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Africa-Solar-annual-installations-300x159.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Africa-Solar-annual-installations-768x408.png 768w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Africa-Solar-annual-installations-650x346.png 650w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Africa-Solar-annual-installations-624x332.png 624w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Africa-Solar-annual-installations-600x319.png 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1516px) 100vw, 1516px" /></a>
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Since 2021, Africa’s solar sector has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 49%, the highest of any global region. By comparison, global solar additions in 2025 were estimated at around 618 GW, within a range of 544 GW to 660 GW, underscoring Africa’s rapid expansion from a low base within a record-breaking global market.
Thirty-two African countries now generate more than 10% of their electricity from solar power, and 14 countries exceed 25% solar penetration in their electricity mix. Countries including Somalia, Chad, Tunisia, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo recorded the fastest improvements in solar penetration rankings, reflecting both new capacity and structural reliance on solar generation.
Market Structure and Sectoral Shifts
The report segments Africa’s solar market into five core sectors: utility-scale solar, commercial and industrial (C&amp;I) solar, residential solar, mini-grids, and solar home systems with productive-use applications.
Utility-scale solar remains the most visible and fully documented segment, driven by national independent power producer programs, competitive auctions replacing feed-in tariffs, and growing integration with battery storage in grid-constrained systems. However, the report makes clear that utility-scale solar is no longer the fastest-growing segment on the continent.
A significant share of imported solar modules had previously been classified as “unidentified” due to the absence of centralized reporting. Based on installer and developer feedback across African markets, AFSIA now attributes approximately 85% of this unidentified capacity to C&amp;I systems and the remaining 15% to residential installations.
Growth in the C&amp;I segment is driven by high grid tariffs, frequent outages, diesel displacement, and the need for reliable power, particularly in manufacturing, mining, and commercial real estate.
Increasingly, these systems are deployed with battery storage to enable load shifting, backup power, and partial energy independence.
Residential solar continues to grow but remains smaller in scale compared to C&amp;I. Its expansion is closely linked to power reliability issues, the availability of net metering frameworks, declining system costs, and supportive import duty and value-added tax (VAT) regimes.
Mini-grids, largely government- or donor-led, remain well documented and play a strategic role in rural electrification, although their contribution in megawatt terms is limited.
Storage as a Structural Turning Point
Battery energy storage systems are identified as the defining technology trend for 2026. Utility-scale BESS costs declined to around $125/kWh by late 2025, while the levelized cost of storage fell to approximately $65/MWh.
These cost reductions have fundamentally changed project economics. Hybrid plus BESS projects in Africa are already delivering electricity at tariffs as low as $0.07/kWh, bringing dispatchable solar into direct competition with thermal generation.
Storage enables solar to provide grid services such as frequency regulation and reserve capacity, and allows near-baseload operation for mines, industrial facilities, island grids, and weak national systems.
As a result, standalone utility-scale solar without storage, while still expanding, faces rising curtailment risks and declining competitiveness in constrained grids.
Regional Patterns and Industrial Ambitions
North Africa, particularly Egypt, is positioning itself as a solar manufacturing and export hub, with integrated cell and module plants announced in 2025. East Africa leads in off-grid, C&amp;I, and productive-use solar, with Kenya emerging as a center for local technology manufacturing, refurbishment, and early deployment of solar-backed e-mobility infrastructure.
The southern region of , led by South Africa, remains the continent’s largest solar market and is entering a new phase characterized by wholesale electricity market reforms and large-scale BESS deployment, with several projects scheduled for commercial operation by late 2026.
West Africa is expanding utility-scale solar through national programs, while increasing solar penetration in electricity mixes in countries such as Benin and Chad. Despite growing interest from global manufacturers, most local manufacturing remains focused on module assembly rather than full vertical integration.
Capital Constraints and Policy Risks
The report is explicit that Africa’s solar challenge is not a lack of demand but resistance to capital deployment. Equity investors typically seek double-digit returns, while competitive tariffs depend on debt priced at single-digit interest rates with leverage levels of around 70% or higher.
Currency mismatch remains a critical risk, as cheaper USD- or EUR-denominated debt exposes projects to foreign-exchange volatility when power purchase agreements are denominated in local currencies. Local-currency debt reduces foreign exchange risk but remains limited and more expensive.
Policy consistency is another decisive factor, with stable frameworks for net metering, wheeling, competitive procurement, and predictable import duty and VAT regimes directly influencing market growth.
Persistent data gaps, grid absorption limits, financing scalability, and permitting delays continue to pose challenges. The report also raises the question of whether recent acceleration is structural or partially crisis-driven, noting that power shortages in countries such as South Africa have amplified demand.
Nevertheless, Africa Solar Outlook 2026 concludes that the continent’s solar sector has moved from the margins to a central role in the power sector, with future outcomes determined less by technology availability and more by financing speed, grid readiness, and policy stability.
In 2023, the Africa Solar Industry Association (AFSIA) <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/africa-solar-capacity-grew-14-in-2022-to-nearly-1-gw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Africa added 989 MW of solar capacity, a 14% year-over-year increase.

AFSIA Tracks 296 GW Solar Projects in Africa, with 23.4 GW Operational as of 2025

<a href="http://offgrid-electric.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ZOLA Electric</a>, formerly known as Off Grid Electric, an African renewable energy company, has secured $32.5 million in funding from <a href="https://www.fmo.nl/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FMO</a>, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank; and <a href="https://symbioticsgroup.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Symbiotics</a>, a leading investment firm specialized in emerging, sustainable and inclusive finance.
The $32.5 million finance facility will finance the growth of ZOLA’s Tanzania operations over the next five years. FMO is the lead arranger in the financing package that will grow ZOLA Electric’s service delivery in Tanzania, helping an additional 145,500 households to access energy in areas with no grid infrastructure.
The investment is also expected to create around 2,100 new jobs in off-grid solar sector. ZOLA currently powers more than 1,000,000 customers across five countries and employs more than 1,000 people.
“We are excited to announce this new investment from FMO and Symbiotics. It will allow us to connect more people in Tanzania, support the communities in which we operate and continue the development of our industry-leading power systems,” said Bill Lenihan, Co-CEO, ZOLA Electric in a press release.
Rosemarijn van der Meij, Fund manager of the Access to Energy Fund (AEF), managed by FMO, said, “The off-grid sector is developing fast and receiving increased attention from investors but is still perceived as high risk; few players have reached profitability. ZOLA Electric Tanzania has a dedicated and professional management team and is well on the way on its path towards profitability. This transaction fits FMO’s inclusive business and green strategy as well as the core theme in the strategy of the Access to Energy Fund: providing access to energy for the unreached rural communities.”
Vivek Pradhan, Head of Market Innovation, Symbiotics, said, &#8220;As an existing provider of debt financing to ZOLA since 2017, we are excited to grow our partnership with one of the earliest leaders of the effort to electrify Sub-Saharan Africa through affordable solar power. Symbiotics will continue to support the provision of accessible clean energy to under-electrified households, businesses, and communities in emerging markets.”
ZOLA has expansion plans for all major African nations. In 2019, ZOLA Electric aims to expand its PAYGo distributed solar energy model and launch an affordable renewable energy alternative available to Nigerians. ZOLA’s target is to deliver clean energy access to 1 million households and businesses in Nigeria over the next three years.
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/off-grid-solar-zola-20-million-debt-funding/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In July 2018</a>, ZOLA Electric secured $20 million in debt financing from solar-business lender SunFunder to be utilized to aid its expansion across the African continent.
Image credit: Off Grid Electric

Off-Grid Solar Solutions Provider ZOLA Gets $32.5 Million to Expand Footprint in Tanzania

India and Tanzania have agreed to develop solar power projects together in the future as members of International Solar Alliance (ISA).
The decision was made during the ninth India-Tanzania Joint Commission on Trade, Scientific and Technical Cooperation led by the External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation of Tanzania, Dr. Augustine P. Mahiga.
India is the largest trading partner of Tanzania comprising 18 percent of its foreign trade and is among the top five investing countries in Tanzania. India has committed over a billion dollar of credit for development projects in Tanzania.
Both the governments have also identified energy, power generation and distribution as promising sectors for development.
India<a href="https://mercomindia.com/oil-wells-today-solar-tomorrow-modi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> inaugurated </a> the second edition of <a href="https://re-invest.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Global RE-Invest</a>  on October 2, 2018 in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Minister of Power R.K. Singh. Speaking at the occasion, Guterres hailed the initiative undertaken by India to lead the ISA in building a sustainable tomorrow for the entire world.
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/21-countries-indian-ocean-region-renewable-agenda/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Recently</a>, 21 countries of the Indian Ocean Rim Association <a href="http://www.iora.int/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">(IORA</a>) adopted the Delhi Declaration on Renewable Energy in the Indian Ocean Region. The declaration calls for collaboration among IORA member states in meeting the growing demand for renewable energy in the Indian Ocean littorals, developing a common renewable energy agenda for the Indian Ocean region, and promoting regional capacity building.
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/isa-conference-india-pledges-1-4-billion-solar-projects-developing-countries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Earlier</a>, Mercom reported that the Government of India pledged $1.4 billion to fund the development of solar projects in 15 African and South Asian countries that are part of the ISA consortium at the <a href="https://mercomindia.com/isa-international-intergovernmental-organization/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">inaugural</a> conference of the ISA held in New Delhi.
Image Credit: Flickr

India and Tanzania Likely to Develop Solar Power Projects Together

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