Africa: Africa's Factories Are Becoming Their Own Power Stations

What the report says

African manufacturers and miners are increasingly building their own electricity systems to reduce exposure to blackouts, high tariffs and weak grid connections, according to Bird Story Agency in an AllAfrica-distributed report. The piece describes how on-site or captive power is becoming a practical strategy for factories that need steady energy to avoid costly production stoppages.

One example is United Aryan’s garment factory in Nairobi, Kenya, where a 1.8 MW rooftop solar installation was added in 2021. The company says the system, financed by Solarise Africa, works alongside the national grid and helps supply the plant, which makes export garments for markets in the United States and Europe. The report also cites Kenya’s Athi River export processing zone, where JP Garments is described by Kenyan agencies as operating entirely on solar power.

The story places this shift in a wider industrial trend across Africa. It notes battery-backed solar systems at textile sites in Ghana and large solar-and-storage power for the Kamoa-Kakula copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In South Africa, industrial firms are also investing in wind and other private generation, while policymakers and analysts emphasize that grids still need major investment to move and balance power efficiently.

The broader significance, as framed by the report, is that Africa’s industrial expansion is increasingly tied to energy reliability. The article also notes that the continent needs substantial new generation capacity by 2030, especially from renewable sources, making private power projects part of a larger effort to close the electricity gap.