Africa in the dark as power shortage stalls growth

In recent years South Africa's power generation has become so inadequate that the continent's most developed economy must cope with rolling power blackouts of eight to 10 hours per day.

FROM ZIMBABWE, WHERE many must work at night because it's the only time there is power, to Nigeria where collapses of the grid are frequent, the reliable supply of electricity remains elusive across Africa. The electricity shortages that plague many of Africa's 54 countries are a serious drain on the continent's economic growth, energy experts warn.

Africa's sprawling cities have erratic supplies of electricity but large swaths of the continent's rural areas have no power at all. In 2021,43% of Africans about 600 million people - lacked access to electricity with 590 million of them in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the International Energy Agency.