Around 60 000 jobs have been created across Africa thanks to the renewable energy industry. Half of these jobs are in South Africa, driven primarily by the country’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.
Renewables have been embraced across the continent: a report by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century shows how the US$1 billion investment in African and Middle Eastern renewable energy initiatives in 2004 had grown to more than US$12 billion in 2015.
South Africa was the first country on the continent to produce a gigawatt of power from solar energy, while its contribution to wind power generation pushed Africa’s output to more than three gigawatts, according to a Times Live report. After South Africa’s US$4.5 billion, the other leading African countries for renewable investment are Morocco (US$2 billion), followed by Kenya (US$357 million), Uganda (US$134 million) and Ethiopia (US$100 million).
