Surge in Floating Solar Projects
African countries are eyeing floating solar power projects to slash fossil fuel dependence, amid rising energy demand and the growing pressures of climate change.
By Conrad Onyango, bird story agency
Africa is fast turning its dams, reservoirs and lagoons into electricity plants as floating solar power begins to take shape across the continent. Some projects have gone live as new construction goes on stream and more other projects fill in the pipeline, signalling a shift from prospects a few years ago to national energy strategies. In Nigeria, Mozambique, Ghana, Morocco and Seychelles, there are a handful of first-mover projects, which governments are banking on to bolster their share of renewable energy on the national grid.
Renewable energy expert, George Obondi told bird in call that the technology is rapidly gaining traction as governments seek innovative ways to pair solar with hydropower, a strategy aimed at stabilising electricity supply amid rising energy demand and the growing pressures of climate change.
“For African governments facing rising energy demand, declining hydropower output due to drought, and pressure to phase out diesel generators, floating solar offers a practical solution,” said Obondi.
Countries, he said have an option to use solar panels during the day, while dams can release water at night or during cloudy weather to ensure sustainable power use.
According to a global trade fair series for the solar industry, Intersolar’s Solarize Africa Market Report 2023, Africa has more than 100,000 square kilometres of man-made fresh water reservoirs suitable for floating solar. Authors of the report said using just one per cent of that could produce 100 gigawatts of electricity , more than Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa combined currently generate.
“Africa consequently boasts the highest absolute Floating PV energy output potential of any continent and contains several of the countries with the highest individual FPV power generation potentials worldwide,” said the report.
Ghana announced in mid-September completion of a 5-megawatt (MW) floating solar PV system on the Bui Reservoir, considered to be the first project of its kind in West Africa to have gone live.
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“The completion of this project also contributes to delivering on the promise in our National Energy Plan to increase the penetration of renewable energy by 10% by 2030,” said the BUI Power Authority in a statement.
In the Seychelles, French company Qair said in October 2025 it has begun constructing a 5.8MW Seysun Lagoon Floating PV plant on Mahé Island. The project uses lagoon space due to limited size of land in the small island nation.
“With commissioning planned for 2026, the Seysun Lagoon project will play a pivotal role in helping Seychelles achieve its goal of sourcing 15% of national electricity from renewable energy by 2030, while also setting a benchmark for floating solar innovation in the Indian Ocean and Africa,” said Qair in a media statement.
Early October, Nigeria broke ground with 100MW facility, the country’s first large-scale floating solar plant. The plant will be designed, financed and operated by Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited (MESL), the operator of Nigeria’s largest hydropower plants and South Africa’s Granville Energy.
“When fully operational, the project will provide thousands of Nigerian homes and businesses with clean, reliable energy, supporting economic development while minimising environmental impact,” said Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited Board Chairman, Col. Sani Bello (rtd).
Nigeria’s Rural Electrification Agency (REA) Managing Director Abba Aliyu, said the move will promote energy justice in Africa’s most populous country and one with a high number of people without electricity.
“Nigeria still has the highest number of people without access to electricity, especially in rural communities. Distributed renewable energy remains the most cost-effective and sustainable solution to bridge this gap,” he said.
In Mozambique, state-owned utility firm, Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) and French renewable energy developer Hydroland have signed a deal to construct the country’s first floating solar power project.
The 100MW plant, located on the Chicamba Reservoir, will be deployed in two phases of 50MW each, feeding into an existing hydropower infrastructure to stabilise supply during droughts.
Mozambique’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Carlos Zacarias, told journalists in the country, the project marks an important moment in the country’s energy transition.
“This project is a major step forward for Mozambique in its transition towards renewable energy. It will help to diversify our energy mix and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” said Zacarias.
The project falls under Mozambique’s Energy Transition Strategy, which aims to install at least 1,000MW of solar power by 2030. Morocco is also piloting floating solar technology, driven partly by the need to save water. Its first floating plant at the Oued Rmel Dam, with a planned capacity of 13MW, began testing in August. It will use 22,000 solar panels across 400 floating platforms to supply power to the Tanger Med port complex while reducing evaporation. Countries such as Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Sudan and South Africa are also exploring similar projects, while investors from Europe, the Middle East and Asia are starting to finance feasibility studies in Africa.
The Solarize Africa report traces the continent’s first ventures into commercial floating solar power in South Africa and Kenya. Africa’s pioneering floating solar park was commissioned in 2019 on a fruit farm in South Africa, featuring a 60-kilowatt (kW) system designed to power cold storage facilities, irrigation systems, and hospitality services. Two years later, Kenya followed suit with a 69 kW floating photovoltaic (PV) plant, financed through crowdfunding and installed atop a rainwater reservoir.
bird story agency
