Africa is diversifying its energy sources by going green and investing in solar farms some of which have since been incorporated into the grid system to power African homes and businesses.
Here is a list, in no particular order, representing the largest solar farms in Africa.
1. Burkina Faso’s solar farm in Zatubi
Located in the town of Zatubi, in the outskirts of the capital Ouagadougou the solar farm is West Africa’s biggest solar farm.
Sitted on a 55-hectare farm, the 33-megawatt (MW) plant was constructed at a cost of $56.7 million, and is expected to power 110,000 households in the country.
The power station was inaugurated last November by French President Emmanuel Macron.
2. Morocco’s Noor solar power project
Morocco hopes to one day export solar energy to Europe, a vision that has pushed them to run one of the largest solar plans in Africa.
The solar plant aims to produce 2, 000 MW by 2020, 680 MW of which have already been successfully launched in Ouarzazate , Laayoune and Boujdour .
In Ouarzazate, a city also nicknamed the door to the desert, 1,400,000 sq m (15m sq ft) has been set aside to host solar panels which conduct the sun in a country that has around 330 days of sunshine a year.
Morocco received 60% of the cost from the European Union to fund the Ouarzazate project, the BBC reported.
3. De Aar, South Africa
South Africa’s solar farm is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, Africa and the Middle-East region. It was constructed within 28 months.
The 175MW facility spans across 473 hectares. Funded to a tune of $400 million by Paschal Phelan the venture supplies power to the National Grid, and according to CNN, when there is fierce heat, it produces far more than the Grid can use, and the excess power goes to waste.
4. Sorati solar plant, Uganda
In the remote eastern district of Soroti lies Uganda’s $19 million solar power plant which adds to the country’s power generation plants.
The renewable energy is planned to power over 40,000 rural households in the region. The station has a nominal capacity of 10MW, but is scalable to 20MW.
5. Kenya’s solar plan
Located in the northern region, Kenya’s solar power project will sit on 85-hectare parcel of land with 200,200 solar panels.
It will be connected to the country’s grid to power homes and businesses, and eventually weaning the region off its reliance on expensive thermal electricity.
To meet its ambitious vision to connect all homes to power by 2020, Kenya plans to install additional 5,000 megawatts to the grid.