Accelerating Green Energy Transition in Africa through Regional Integration

This briefing by the South African Institute of International Affairs examines how regional integration, specifically through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and a strategic partnership with the European Union can accelerate the transition to green energy in Africa. It identifies significant energy deficits and systemic constraints—including finance, technical capacity, and domestic policy—that hinder progress, arguing that a regional approach can overcome the limitations faced by individual nation-states.

• Africa faces a severe energy deficit, with over 600 million people lacking electricity and 900 million lacking access to clean cooking energy. Access varies drastically by region, ranging from 1% in South Sudan to 100% in North African countries such as Egypt, Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia.
• The transition to green energy in Africa is impeded by three primary constraints: a lack of finance (requiring an estimated average annual investment of $70 billion over 15 years), gaps in human and technical capacity across the skill spectrum, and domestic political factors such as fossil fuel subsidies.
• The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) can accelerate the green energy transition by consolidating fragmented markets to improve access to funding and technology, scaling investment in regional infrastructure, and providing a dispute resolution mechanism to build trust between states.
• Existing regional power pools in Africa have a combined installed capacity of 33.8 GW, with 28% produced via renewable technologies (mainly hydropower), but they have been limited by national power provider dominance, lack of market liberalization, and underinvestment in transmission infrastructure.
• A partnership between the EU and Africa could fast-track the energy transition if the EU shifts its development assistance from bilateral initiatives toward regional support, prioritizes institutional knowledge sharing on fossil fuel transitions, and helps Africa develop the capacity to innovate and adapt green technologies locally.
• The success of the green energy transition via regional integration depends on the ratification and implementation of the AfCFTA; as of the document's writing, only 30 of the 55 African countries had ratified the agreement.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2020). Accelerating Green Energy Transition in Africa through Regional Integration. https://saiia.org.za/research/accelerating-green-energy-transition-in-africa-through-regional-integration/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Accelerating Green Energy Transition in Africa through Regional Integration. 2020. https://saiia.org.za/research/accelerating-green-energy-transition-in-africa-through-regional-integration/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Accelerating Green Energy Transition in Africa through Regional Integration |date=27 September 2020 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/accelerating-green-energy-transition-in-africa-through-regional-integration/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2020accelerating, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Accelerating Green Energy Transition in Africa through Regional Integration}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2020}, month = sep, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/accelerating-green-energy-transition-in-africa-through-regional-integration/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }