Solar Chief: African Renewables Set To Benefit From Declining Costs

At first glance, the beginning of 2025 looks like a less than positive time for the global rollout of green energy. Donald Trump, a notorious renewable energy sceptic, is about to return to the White House and threatens to pull the worlds largest economy out of the Paris Agreement on climate change. Parts of Europe, meanwhile, are battling to keep the lights on amid growing criticism that they are placing too much reliance on intermittent renewable power sources.

Yet the CEO of one of the largest developers of solar power in Africa is convinced that the continent will shrug off these global headwinds.

Im not so concerned about political developments in Europe and in the US, because in Africa the fundamentals are so strong for renewable energy, says Terje Pilskog, CEO of Norwegian-headquartered company Scatec. As well as helping to bridge the continents electricity access gap, renewables are also contributing to improving the competitiveness and improving the potential for economic development in Africa, he adds.

The starting point is that the green transition is an opportunity for Africa, Pilskog says.

That makes me very optimistic in terms of the business that we are doing, which is developing and building-out and investing in renewable energy in Africa and across the emerging countries in the world.