Wilfried Dudink, Senior Director of Strategy & Development, Digital Realty

The state of Africa’s renewable energy landscape holds unique importance for executive tech leaders worldwide. Rather than being a driver of digital transformation, renewable energy serves as a powerful enabler of Africa’s economic evolution.

Africa’s adoption of greener energy faces a few challenges, exacerbated by its existing grid structure. These include funding, infrastructure, geo-political instability, and green policy creation and adherence. While Africa’s current renewable energy landscape is undeniably already seeing transformation, growth, and success in many nations, there are still gaps between the continent and counterparts in other areas of the world.

In this blog, we’ll explore Africa’s renewable energy mix, challenges, and opportunities for adoption, the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in the region, and sustainability success.

Key challenges and opportunities for renewable energy adoption in Africa

Currently, Africa gets 18% of their energy from renewable sources.¹ In comparison, the European Union (EU) countries meet 47% of their energy demand with renewable resources — wind, solar, and hydro taking the greatest share of this power generation.² Economies with thriving green grid development usually have a three-part strategy to drive implementation of renewable energy goals, combining government policy, consumer demand, and investment sources.

Demand for infrastructure (data centers and connectivity), endorsement, and support for investment by governments, along with actual funding for infrastructure (private or public) are the three key challenges but also can appear as opportunities of adopting renewable energy and growing digital transformation.

Infrastructure development: There are reports that energy-efficient computing via renewable resources is emerging as a critical trend in the coming years and months. Enterprises face regulatory and governance requirements to lessen their carbon footprints. According to their Strategic Technology Trends for 2025, Gartner predicts optimized hardware, algorithms, and renewable energy for data centers will become standard for enterprises.³
Government Support: According to IDC, the implementation of stricter local regulations and sustainability-friendly government policies are driving investment in renewable energy projects.⁴
Funding Mechanisms: While securing investment (private or public) remains challenging, particularly in emerging markets, innovative financing models have emerged that blend public and private capital to better meet the complex funding mechanisms required to drive renewable energy projects forward.⁵

Together, these factors form a complex but navigable landscape for organizations seeking to advance both sustainability and digital objectives.

Sources of renewable energy with the greatest growth opportunities

In addition to growing expertise and investments from global financial organizations, Africa’s other advantage is its array of natural resources. Solar power, hydroelectric systems, and biomass/biothermal energy generation infrastructure harness the power of sun, water, and organic resources.

Hydro-power

Within Africa’s existing energy infrastructure, one area with high potential is hydroelectric power. It's one of the continent’s oldest forms of grid-based green energy, with origins dating back to the 1980s. As such, dependence on resources in and around coastal regions has grown over time. Now, 40% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s energy comes from hydropower.⁶

Much of Africa’s hydropower infrastructure, however, is more than 20 years old and needs investment to improve core operations and to connect with the green power grid.⁷

Private and public partnerships are propelling the needed upgrades and innovations forward. One example of this movement is The African Development Bank announcing a $10 million investment from its Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) into the Persistent Africa Climate Venture Builder Fund (ACV Fund) to propel climate technology entrepreneurship across Sub-Saharan Africa. This catalytic investment aims to unlock $70 million in funding for African climate-focused ventures, including the modernization of the region’s hydroelectric power grid.⁷

Biomass energy

South Africa and Kenya are leading the way in biomass innovations in Africa with large-scale projects for developing biomass power plants. These include plants for the conversion of sugarcane production residue and landfill waste-to-energy plants converting agricultural waste into renewable electricity.

Solar power

Out of Africa’s three major renewable energy sources, solar power stands as the most available natural resource for clean energy for the entire continent. Africa has 60% of the globe’s strongest solar resources, yet the continent currently on makes up 1% of the global solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity.⁸

Solar checks major boxes on Africa’s list of needs for digital transformation, such as powering landlocked and rural areas, affordable infrastructure development, and investment appetite.⁹

Digital Realty’s role in sustainable transformation

Kenya serves as a global model for renewable energy usage with a 93% green grid supplying its electricity needs, with an eye on 100% generation by 2030. iColo: a Digital Realty Company, plays a key role in Kenya’s growth and leadership in the renewable energy space, particularly through investments in solar energy systems.

iColo has successfully deployed over 650kW of new solar installations supporting its 1.54MW portfolio of carrier-neutral data centers in Nairobi and Mombasa, with plans to build out a 13MW data center portfolio along with further expansions of its solar energy generating capacity. Through this solar initiative, iColo has become one of the greenest global connectivity hubs in Kenya.

South Africa’s reliance on the green power grid has room to grow and holds a different position in Africa’s green energy development. The country’s recent challenges with power shedding have impacted on the affordability and reliability of the grid, causing a dependence on diesel fuel to power generators. To address this issue, Digital Realty company Teraco has taken a multi-faceted approach, kicking off construction of a 120MW photovoltaic power (PV) plant earlier this year, announcing a utility-scale wind power purchase agreement, and installing 5 MW of on-site solar panels to date.

The impact of AI on renewable energy and digital transformation

AI can be used for predictive analytics for data center energy efficiency. Alongside the use and adoption of green energy — the Digital Realty ecosystem is about utilizing innovations like AI in sustainable data centers.

This approach enables reduced operational costs, efficient cooling, and enhanced sustainability, in tandem with the adoption of renewable energy, reducing data center impact on greenhouse gas emissions.

Data center providers who build with a thoughtful approach to sustainability contribute to, instead of detracting from, global green energy goals. Digital Realty, for example, has a global green energy footprint of 1.5GW. And Africa remains a substantial focus for Digital Realty’s green energy development strategy.

Building a sustainable tomorrow for Africa

While Africa currently generates only around 18% of its energy from renewable sources, compared to 47% in the EU, it's made significant strides in several areas. Hydroelectric power, for instance, provides 40% of Sub-Saharan Africa's energy, but this infrastructure needs investment and modernization to meet the growing demands of today. Biomass energy is also on the rise, with South Africa and Kenya leading the way.

Perhaps the most promising renewable energy source is Africa's vast solar potential, as the continent holds 60% of the world's solar resources. As we’ve seen, there are undeniably a growing number of impactful developments right now that are highlighting and actioning on the region's potential.

The importance of green energy in the race to digital transformation can't be overstated. As AI and other advanced technologies increase power demands annually, reliable and sustainable energy supply becomes even more critical. Green energy not only helps meet these growing demands but also positions Africa to attract more global partnerships and investment. By managing its rich resources with best practices, Africa can ensure a sustainable and innovation-driven digital future. This not only benefits the region but also contributes to global efforts to combat climate change and promote sustainable development.

Africa is undergoing rapid digitization, resulting in the need for huge digital transformation on the continent. Digital Realty is at the forefront, driving growth through strategic developments and the expansion of PlatformDIGITAL®, the world’s largest data center platform, into key markets in Africa. Our extensive network and local expertise can help you navigate this dynamic environment and unlock the full potential of Africa's digital economy.

To discuss your African digital infrastructure strategy, please reach out to us here.

¹Statista, Renewable energy in Africa - statistics & facts, January 2024.
²Ember, European Electricity Review 2025, January 2025
³Gartner, Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2025, October 2024
⁴ IDC, Data Centers and Our Climate, September 2024
⁵ IEA, Financing Clean Energy in Africa, September 2023
⁶ International Hydropower Association, Africa adds 2GW hydropower capacity in 2023 but stark gap remains, May 2024
⁷ African Development Bank, African Development Bank's Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa Invests $10 Million to Supercharge Climate Tech Innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa, December 2024
⁸ World Economic Forum, Africa is leading the way in solar power potential, September 2022
⁹ World Bank, How solar can empower African youth, September 2023

Clean and renewable energy