London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 15, 2025

UK could tap into Africa's $24bn market for off-grid solar power

UK could tap into Africa's $24bn market for off-grid solar power

Rapidly growing sector could prove lucrative as Britain seeks post-Brexit trade opportunities
UK investors could seize a $24bn investment opportunity by helping to connect millions of people without access to electricity to off-grid home solar power systems.

The market for pay-as-you-go home solar packages is expected to boom in Africa, where millions of homes are using mobile technology to rent low-cost solar panels.

UK companies have played a leading role in helping more than five million households sign up to pay-as-you-go home solar systems in the past four years. But with 600 million people without access to an electricity grid, there is huge potential for future investment.

A report by Kleos Advisory, published during the first UK-Africa Investment Summit in London, has found that the commercial opportunity from off-grid solar panels could generate about $24bn (£18bn) a year.

The market is growing rapidly since the collapse in the cost of solar panel technologies and the emergence of mobile banking and affordable financing in the continent’s fast-growing economies.

Households that earn an income are increasingly using mobile phones to rent small-scale solar panels, and ultra-efficient electric lighting strips and appliances to access electricity for the first time.

Once the solar panels are paid off, households own the equipment outright and in effect have free energy. Many then choose to upgrade their packages to add televisions and electric cookers.

The off-grid solar market is expected to grow rapidly, in part because eight of the world’s 15 fastest-growing economies are in Africa.

Tedd George, the author of the report, said the combination of solar technology and affordable financing was “driving an economic transformation in Africa, making the ‘unbankable’ bankable and embedding African consumers in the digital economy”.

UK companies including Azuri Technologies, which commissioned the report, and Bboxx are racing to corner the market for off-grid solar in Africa with the help of private investment and major international companies.

Azuri sells its home solar systems in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Nigeria, and Bboxx is active in Kenya, Togo, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Rwanda, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria.

The scale of the off-grid solar market across Africa has emerged as UK investment leaders consider future investment in the continent after Brexit.

Tony Blair said the summit this week “should open a new chapter in Britain’s relationship with Africa” to one based on “economic cooperation rather than simply an aid-based, donor-recipient relationship”.

The former Labour prime minister said: “If we can use the UK-Africa Investment Summit to become a true economic partner to African countries, it would be of great strategic benefit to the continent and to the UK.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
×