The execution gap
Africa has 518.6 GW of power capacity announced or approved and 75.4 GW under construction.
- 518.6 GW
- announced or approved: 250.2 GW announced, 268.4 GW approved, 47% of everything GEM tracks
- 75.4 GW
- under construction in 263 units, 7% of the tracker; 7 GW on paper for every GW being built
- 228.7 GW
- stalled: cancelled, shelved or mothballed, in 766 units, against 271.3 GW operating
- 3 years
- commitment to completion for a Chinese-financed project, the median of 1,577 AidData records with both years; quartiles 1 to 4
Of everything in the pipeline, being built or not yet begun, 87% has not broken ground; a further 228.7 GW has been cancelled, shelved or mothballed, three times what is being built. The continent's working fleet is 271.3 GW. Those are the 4,295 units Global Energy Monitor tracks across 55 countries and territories, every technology, in its release of 24 Sep 2026.
Solar is where the gap is widest and most concentrated: 234.8 GW of photovoltaic capacity is announced or approved, 45% of everything on paper, and 76% of it sits in six countries. Mauritania's 53.1 GW is 5 green-hydrogen schemes: GreenGo Energy Group (30.0 GW), CWP Global (12.0 GW), Conjuncta and Infinity Power AS (5.0 GW), Chariot Ltd (5.0 GW) and Möhring Energie (0.5 GW). Among the owners the site's lender profiles can name, Chinese-owned generation stalls more than it runs, 10.9 GW stalled against 1.4 GW operating; Gulf-owned capacity is the most active foreign-owned capacity, with 8.3 GW approved and 6.7 GW being built. And when China finances a project, AidData's records say it takes a median 3 years from the commitment to completion: 4 for an Eximbank loan, 1 for a grant from an unnamed government body.
Global Energy Monitor, Global Integrated Power Tracker, release 2026-09 published 24 Sep 2026, fetched 29 Oct 2026 · AidData, CLG-Global 1.0, Nov 2025 · to 2023, fetched 14 Oct 2026 · every figure recomputed from the two files at build time
The pipeline by stage
One bar for the whole tracker, then one for each technology. Capacity is each unit's as GEM files it, including the “future phases” placeholders of the hydrogen schemes; a stalled unit is cancelled, shelved or mothballed. Hover a segment for the units behind it.
Everything GEM tracks in Africa, by stage, GW
4,295 units, 1,094 GW. The bracket above is the paper: announced plus approved. The bracket below is what is being built.
By technology, GW
Each bar is one technology; the segments are its stages. Wind holds the hydrogen schemes' wind halves; “not stated” is a unit GEM gives no technology and whose name says none.
37 of the 55 countries and territories have more capacity on paper than operating; the map beside the title shades them. “On paper” is announced plus approved.
| Technology | Announced | Approved | Under construction | Operating | Stalled | Total | Units | On paper |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solar PV | 137.0 | 97.8 | 20.9 | 14.9 | 60.9 | 331.5 | 1,774 | 71% |
| Gas and oil | 23.1 | 19.4 | 14.9 | 135.5 | 36.3 | 229.3 | 982 | 19% |
| Wind | 50.7 | 95.6 | 20.0 | 12.0 | 22.0 | 200.4 | 416 | 73% |
| Hydro | 4.7 | 38.2 | 8.2 | 47.3 | 11.3 | 109.7 | 299 | 39% |
| Coal | – | 1.2 | 0.7 | 53.7 | 45.6 | 101.2 | 311 | 1% |
| Nuclear | 21.4 | 6.1 | 4.8 | 1.9 | 5.7 | 40.0 | 46 | 69% |
| Solar thermal | 0.4 | 3.3 | 2.4 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 8.3 | 36 | 45% |
| Geothermal | 0.7 | 1.8 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 4.6 | 71 | 54% |
| Bioenergy | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 4.2 | 139 | 20% |
| Not stated | 11.8 | 4.3 | 3.0 | 2.3 | 43.3 | 64.7 | 221 | 25% |
| All technologies | 250.2 | 268.4 | 75.4 | 271.3 | 228.7 | 1,094 | 47% |