Africa’s Renewable Energy Transition Enters a New Phase
Africa’s biggest clean energy challenge is shifting from building projects to building the institutions, markets, and regulatory systems needed to deliver them at scale, experts say. This new phase marks a significant milestone in the continent’s transition to renewable energy, as the focus shifts from proving that clean energy works to creating the necessary infrastructure to deploy it at scale.
According to recent data, renewables generated 34% of the world’s electricity in 2025, overtaking coal’s 33% share. Together with nuclear power, renewables are expected to provide half of global electricity by 2030. This growth in renewable energy is driven by the increasing demand for power, driven by industrialization, artificial intelligence, and electrification.
However, experts say that the bottleneck in transitioning to cleaner energy has shifted from technology to the systems supporting it, including funding. Overcoming such obstacles is vital for securing access to power for the 600 million people in Africa who are yet to be connected. The challenge is not just about building projects, but also about creating the necessary institutional capacity to unlock the potential of renewable energy.
Former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, the U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, recently announced a new $285 million Bloomberg Philanthropies initiative to strengthen clean energy industries in emerging and developing economies. This initiative reflects a growing consensus that Africa’s energy transition is constrained less by a lack of renewable resources or viable technologies than by the institutional capacity needed to turn those advantages into financially viable projects and electricity on the grid.
Many projects remain delayed by weak market design, limited grid planning, slow permitting processes, and fragmented regulatory systems. Saliem Fakir, executive director of the African Climate Foundation, emphasizes that what has been missing is not the potential, but the institutional infrastructure and capabilities to unlock it. Philanthropy that targets those gaps directly is the kind of intervention that can shift the trajectory of a continent’s energy system.
Across Africa, renewable energy costs have fallen sharply while investment appetite continues to grow. However, investors say policy uncertainty, slow permitting processes, and limited regulatory capacity are hindering projects. Wangari Muchiri, founder and chief executive of RE.Think Energy, notes that the commitment signals that the next phase of the energy transition is not about proving clean energy works, but about removing the barriers preventing it from scaling fast enough.
The Bloomberg initiative is looking beyond ambitious renewable energy targets to focus on helping projects attract long-term investments and connect to national grids. This new approach recognizes that the next chapter of Africa’s renewable energy story will not be only by the projects it builds, but the institutions that make these projects possible.
