The importance of energy storage to Africa’s growth
Building out Africa’s energy infrastructure is vital for achieving economic growth on the continent andbattery energy storage is a key platformtechnology enabling this.
Companies around the worldare beginning to recognise the size of the opportunity presented by Africa’s energy storage markets.
“We see Africa not only for its resources, we also see Africa as a big market for energy storage,” said Xiaoshen Wang, chief executive and Vice Chairman forGanfeng Lithium, at Benchmark’s Giga Africa event in Marrakesh, Morocco.
Africa’s need for energy storage
“Right now the lights are off [in Africa],” Mujeeb Ijaz, founder of Our Next Energy (ONE), told attendees at Giga Africa, explaining the connection between access to electricity and GDP. “If we were to meet with leaders of the various countries here in Africa and talk about ambition on GDP […] you can align that information with people’s access to electricity.”
Mujeeb Ijaz talking at Giga Africa 2025 about Powering Africa with Distributed MicroGrids. Photo credit: Jens Reiterer
Microgrids utilising solar energy and other renewables will play a key part in developing African electricity access, especially where population centres are more dispersed.
“Now,investingin infrastructure has always been a centralised model,” Ijaz said. “But Africa is different. Africa doesn’t have all of those big cities: It’s a rural and distributed population. So we need a distributed idea around infrastructure.”
Ganfeng’s Wang agreed, saying that building a large energy grid would be costly. “This solar plus energy storage will be the perfect solution for the population in the remote areas, so they can access the electricity. So we see this as a big potential.”
Rho Motion’s Battery Energy Stationary Storage Forecast provides a comprehensive summary and evaluation of the present and future BESS market in Africa, and on a global basis.
This report enables stakeholders in the storage space to evaluate the competitive landscape, from cell to system, understand market opportunities and is a crucial data tool providing regional GWh battery demand by technology and application.
To learn more,click here to request a demo of this forecast.
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