Data shows that since 2007, China has helped build 160 power plants across Africa, lighting up the night sky of 27 countries -- half the continent. 14 more are under construction.
by Xinhua writer Chen Wangqi
“The sky here’s very strange. I often have the sensation when I look at it that it’s a solid thing up there, protecting us from what’s behind.”
“But what is behind?”
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| Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Beijing for the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit and a state visit on September 2, 2024. The meeting took place in the Northern Hall of the Great Hall of the People. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei) |
“Nothing, I suppose. Just darkness. Absolute night,” Paul Bowles wrote in his 1949 novel The Sheltering Sky, which is about an American couple’s journey into North Africa.
Since 2007, China has helped build 160 plants across Africa, lighting up the night sky of 27 countries, half the continent. Fourteen more are under construction, according to data from the Boston University Global Development Policy Center.
Despite Africa’s vast reserves of hydro, solar, and wind power, much of its renewable energy remains untapped. China is stepping in to help turn the continent’s clean energy potential into reality.
In northeastern Kenya, the China-financed Garissa Solar Power Station is the first major solar plant to tap into the country’s vast solar resources, making it the largest grid-connected solar plant in East and Central Africa.
In South Africa, the De Aar Wind Farm developed by a Chinese company has an installed capacity of 244.5 megawatts. It has met the demand of 300,000 households since it began operation in 2017 while reducing 619,900 tons of carbon emissions each year.
By 2026, 103 hydropower, six solar and five wind plants will have been put into operation, accounting for 66 percent of all China-built plants in Africa.
Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, a professor of public policy at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, said multilateralism sets the tone for China’s support for Africa in developing clean energy sources. “China has helped Ethiopia and other African countries with the process of low carbon green transformation.”
Access to convenience, better healthcare, and more job opportunities … the benefits of China-built plants are tangible to many Africans in their daily lives.
Hover over or click cards for their stories!
[Story 1] Access to Convenience
In the dry, sun-scorched lands of Kenya’s Baringo County, Doris Loruk Chepalat and her family live in a small, two-room house, once isolated from modern conveniences like electricity.
For years, they had to trek to the nearest market to charge their phones.
Thanks to the collaboration between a Chinese firm — Chuanshan International Mining Company — and the Afridge Development Plan, a solar panel is now installed on Chepalat’s rooftop. It powers her family’s two light bulbs, a radio and their phone chargers with solar energy.
The children would now be able to study late into the night, she said.
[Story 2] Healthcare Quality
Power outages once plagued Ndejje Health Center IV in Uganda’s Wakiso district, leaving surgeons stranded in the operating room and midwives using phone lights to aid births.
With China’s solar panels, the health center now has a reliable power source crucial for uninterrupted maternal care and vaccine storage.
“Ever since we got solar, we were able to address the challenges of an unpredictable power schedule,” Geoffrey Kisuze, the health center manager, told Xinhua.
Evelyne Namuyanja, a local resident, said the solar light at the health facility was very helpful when she took the operation. “All the time throughout the theater, power was on. It was successful … It’s a wow.”
[Story 3] Job Opportunity
In Zambia, the construction of the 750-megawatt China-financed hydropower station is transforming the nation’s electricity supply and offering significant career opportunities for its young workforce.
Launched in September 2017, the training program, conducted under the Sinohydro Training Institute, has equipped 332 young workers in the Kafue Lower Gorge Power Station with essential skills for both the construction of the power plant and the broader needs of the country.
“It was a good experience because, after completing my power electrical course, finding a stable job in the production industry was still a significant challenge. Coming to Sinohydro and being exposed to such a large industry was a significant advantage for me,” said Gift Kapanda, an electrical technologist at the Chinese company.
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