African countries must move beyond the rhetoric of renewable energy and translate the continent’s abundant solar resources into bankable projects, jobs and sustainable economic growth, Zimbabwean President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has advised.

Mnangagwa made the call at the eighth meeting of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Regional Committee for the Africa Region in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, where governments, development partners and private-sector stakeholders are seeking practical ways to accelerate solar deployment across the continent.

The President said Africa’s vast solar resources should be treated as strategic economic assets capable of supporting industrialisation, modernising economies and expanding access to essential services.

He said greater use must be made of regional and continental financing platforms, electricity markets and shared infrastructure to accelerate the continent’s energy transition.

“We remain deeply committed to advancing Africa’s critical role in the global energy transition agenda,” Mnangagwa said, while commending Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and French President Emmanuel Macron for their support for solar energy partnerships with Africa.

“Our solar resources must be viewed as vital instruments to industrialise, modernise, and scale up access to essential services in line with the African Union Agenda 2063,” he said.

He also stressed the need for an inclusive energy transition, particularly by ensuring that women and young people participate as entrepreneurs, technicians, engineers and investors.

According to him, African countries must develop the capacity to manufacture, adapt, install and maintain solar technologies locally rather than remain dependent on imported expertise.

He specifically highlighted the Solar Technology Application Resource Centre (STAR-C) initiative as an avenue for expanding technical knowledge, training and skills transfer among young Africans.

The meeting comes against the backdrop of Africa’s persistent energy access challenge, with solar energy increasingly being positioned as a key solution for households, agriculture, businesses and public services.

The Seychelles Minister for Environment, Climate, Energy and Natural Resources and Chair of the meeting, Marie-May Jeremie, said Africa’s energy transition was gathering momentum but remained far below the continent’s enormous solar potential.

She identified solar power, energy storage and stronger electricity grids as critical to improving energy security, reducing dependence on imported fuels and supporting agriculture, healthcare, education and enterprise.

“We must translate Africa’s abundant sunlight into bankable projects and measurable development outcomes, moving from ambition to implementation,” Jeremie said.

The International Solar Alliance used the meeting to unveil its Solarising Africa Strategy, an implementation blueprint designed to accelerate solar deployment across four priority areas: distributed renewable energy, solarised agriculture, electric mobility and utility-scale solar.

The strategy proposes scaling Africa’s solar capacity from an estimated 20–22 gigawatts currently to between 150 and 200GW by 2030, 500GW by 2040 and 1,000GW by 2050.
Achieving those targets, however, would require significantly greater access to finance, stronger institutions, skilled manpower and expanded electricity grids.

ISA Director General Ashish Khanna said Africa was now positioned to move “from megawatts to gigawatts” of solar, citing growing political commitment, stronger coordination among governments and development partners, and declining costs of solar and energy storage technologies.

He said the convergence of governments and development institutions around Mission 300 could provide a major opportunity to accelerate energy access.