Rethinking China’s role in Africa’s critical energy future
By Jiaqi Lu
Expanding electricity access is one of the most pressing challenges for Africa’s development, with 600 million people—roughly 43% of the continent’s population—still lacking access to reliable electricity.
The 2025 Africa Energy Summit in Tanzania underscored the urgency of addressing this issue and set forth an ambitious target through Mission 300, a program aimed at providing sustainable electricity to 300 million people by 2030. Achieving this goal requires substantial investment, coordinated policy efforts, and international cooperation. At the summit, following the lead of the World Bank and the African Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) announced a $1-1.5 billion contribution to Mission 300, reinforcing its commitment to Africa’s infrastructure development.
For over two decades, Chinese development finance institutions and commercial lenders have been important in financing energy infrastructure across the continent. According to analysis based on the Chinese Loans to Africa Database, China has provided about $43 billion in loans to support electricity access expansion from 2000 to 2023.
Based on the same analysis, approximately $28 billion of these investments have been dedicated to power generation. In particular, 21% has been directed to coal projects, 63% to hydropower, and only 6% to renewables such as solar and wind energy. The carbon-intensive and hydro-heavy investment portfolio raises concerns about environmental degradation, long-term viability, and Africa’s increasing vulnerability to climate change and drought.
A new public-private partnership model is essential—one that emphasizes reducing operation and maintenance costs through localized capacity building and a self-sustainable business model.
Recognizing the need for a more climate-friendly energy mix, China has ceased to provide funding for fossil fuel projects in Africa since 2020. Then, in 2021, Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged to stop funding new coal-fired power plants overseas. Moreover, at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in September 2024, China announced plans for 30 new clean energy projects across the continent, but whether this will represent a meaningful departure from hydro-dominant investments remains to be seen.
In addition to investments in power generation, $14 billion—or 33%—of the $43 billion has been allocated to grid expansion in Africa. To further utilize China’s comparative advantage, China State Grid Corporation and China Southern Power Grid are well-equipped to provide the expertise and technological capacity to lead grid expansion efforts, leveraging their rich experience deploying ultra-high-voltage transmission lines across vast and challenging terrains.
Through deeper cooperation between Chinese grid companies and local electricity companies, knowledge transfer and infrastructure investments might accelerate progress toward wider energy access.
While large-scale grid expansion effectively increases electricity access, reaching remote and rural areas where grid extension is less feasible requires alternative solutions. In 2023, China pledged to launch the Africa Solar Belt program, funding $14 million for off-grid solar systems to power over 50,000 households. Distributed solar power and mini-grid systems offer a possible path, particularly in rural and remote areas where the upfront capital investment for grid infrastructure remains prohibitively high since mini-grids can provide localized electricity generation and distribution, reducing transmission losses and improving access.
.However, most mini-grids face significant challenges in reliability and financial feasibility, as high operations and maintenance (O&M) costs often make them difficult to sustain, especially in poor communities or remote areas.
To address these challenges, a new public-private partnership model is essential—one that emphasizes reducing O&M costs through localized capacity building and a self-sustainable business model. China’s low-cost energy storage and solar-grid integration could be part of the solution that makes mini-grid more viable. With extensive experience in renewable deployment and energy storage technologies, Chinese green energy firms can contribute by expanding their operations in Africa, offering technical expertise, and providing scalable solutions for mini-grid sustainability.
Addressing Africa’s energy poverty requires a systematic and multi-level strategy that balances affordability, reliability, and sustainability. While Chinese stakeholders, such as development finance institutions and companies, can play a role in advancing these efforts, their contributions must be carefully structured to avoid placing additional debt burdens on the continent. National governments, development finance institutions, and Chinese equity investors must collaborate to develop innovative financing mechanisms prioritizing renewable energy and equitable energy access.
Jiaqi (Jackie) Lu is a Senior Academic Researcher with the Global China Initiative and serves as Team Lead for the Energy and Climate workstream.