Crocodile Economics Comes to Africa: Trade, Solar, and the New Energy Map

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The African Continental Free Trade Area is no longer an aspiration. Fifty-four of fifty-five countries have signed and forty-eight have ratified. It is now being implemented. The bloc represents about 1.4 billion people and a combined GDP of $4.3 trillion. What that means in practical terms is the start of predictable trade across borders and the rise of continental supply chains.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative has been creating the physical backbone to move heavy energy equipment across the continent. China has financed or built over 12,000 km of roads and railway, about 20 new or modernized ports, and more than 80 power-sector facilities. In 2023 alone, Chinese investment in Africa totaled around $21.7 billion, much of it in transport and logistics. These corridors are now the arteries for the solar and battery trade.

Alongside these corridors, Chinese and African researchers have been mapping out what big-grid connectivity might look like in the coming decades. A 12-country high-voltage direct-current super-grid concept has been developed, stretching from Mali and Nigeria in the west across the continent to Ethiopia and Kenya in the east and then to South Africa in the south.

Source: Wikipedia