ABA Editorial · Dec 15, 2025 · 13 min read
Independent power producers have become the primary vehicle for utility-scale generation expansion across Africa, with ACWA Power, Scatec, Globeleq, and Enel Green Power dominating the category. REIPPPP in South Africa, the Mauritania USD 300 million Desert to Power deal, and country-specific tenders have structured the private generation market. This report maps the IPP ecosystem and the deal architecture that defines it.
Independent power producers (IPPs) have become the primary vehicle for utility-scale generation expansion across Africa over the last decade. Where African electricity sectors were once dominated by state-owned vertically integrated utilities, they are now increasingly structured around public procurement of private generation through power purchase agreements (PPAs). The IPP model allows governments to add generation capacity without having to finance or operate it directly, while giving private developers the regulatory certainty and creditworthy offtakers needed to raise capital for specific projects. Several international developers have emerged as the dominant players in the African IPP market, including ACWA Power, Scatec, Globeleq, and Enel Green Power, and their combined pipelines represent a substantial share of the utility-scale generation capacity coming online across the continent. This report maps the IPP ecosystem, the deal architecture that defines it, and the structural questions that will shape its growth.
ACWA Power, headquartered in Saudi Arabia and listed on the Saudi stock exchange, has built significant positions in Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa, typically through large solar, wind, and hybrid solar-storage projects. ACWA Power's scale allows it to underwrite projects that smaller developers cannot, and its balance sheet supports the long construction and operation periods that utility-scale generation requires. The company has been particularly active in North African markets where its Middle Eastern origin gives it cultural and commercial advantages alongside its financial strength.
In Morocco, ACWA Power has been involved in major solar projects at Noor Ouarzazate and other sites, with concentrated solar power and photovoltaic components that together represent some of the largest single renewable projects on the continent. In Egypt, the company has participated in solar and wind deployments across multiple procurement rounds. In South Africa, ACWA Power has bid into REIPPPP rounds and won contracts for specific solar and hybrid projects.
Scatec, headquartered in Norway, has built one of the most consistent positions in African utility-scale solar development, with plants operating in South Africa, Egypt, and several other markets at scales of 50 to 400 megawatts per facility. The company builds, owns, and operates photovoltaic plants through its own engineering and operations teams rather than relying entirely on local partners, which gives it direct control over construction quality and operational performance.
Scatec's approach has focused on commercial discipline and repeatable execution rather than pursuing the largest single projects. The result is a portfolio of multiple mid-scale projects across different African markets that together represent substantial cumulative capacity. This diversification reduces the company's exposure to any single market or procurement process while building operational capability that applies across its full portfolio.
Globeleq, backed by development finance institution investors including British International Investment (BII) and Norfund, operates utility-scale generation assets across multiple African countries and has been one of the most consistent long-term players in the sector. Globeleq's capital structure (with development finance institution sponsorship) gives it access to patient capital that commercial developers cannot always match, allowing it to participate in markets and project types that pure commercial investors would avoid.
The company operates a portfolio that includes thermal, hydroelectric, solar, and wind assets across Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, Cameroon, South Africa, and other markets. The mix reflects Globeleq's role as a long-term owner and operator rather than a pure project developer focused on construction and exit.
The Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) in South Africa has been the most structured utility-scale renewable procurement programme on the continent. Since its launch in 2011, REIPPPP has procured several gigawatts of solar and wind capacity through competitive auction rounds, with each round targeting specific capacity and technology mixes. The programme has attracted international developers and produced competitive tariff levels that have driven down the cost of renewable power in the South African market.
More recent REIPPPP rounds have included storage components, recognizing that the intermittency of pure renewable generation creates grid integration challenges that storage can help address. Corporate PPAs have become an additional procurement channel alongside REIPPPP, with South African corporates including retailers, mining companies, and manufacturers signing direct agreements with private developers under the reformed regulatory framework.
The African Development Bank's Desert to Power initiative is attempting to mobilize utility-scale and hybrid renewable generation across the Sahel region. In October 2025, Mauritania signed a USD 300 million independent power producer deal for a hybrid solar-wind plant under the Desert to Power framework. Similar deals are in development across Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, and other Sahel countries, though progress has been uneven due to political volatility and security concerns in several target geographies.
Desert to Power combines project-level private development with concessional financing arranged through the African Development Bank, which reduces project cost of capital compared to pure commercial financing. This blended finance approach is increasingly common in African utility-scale generation, especially in markets where pure commercial financing would not be available at acceptable terms.
Three indicators will shape the African utility-scale IPP market. First, whether REIPPPP procurement rounds continue at the pace and scale that South Africa's transition requires, or whether political and operational frictions slow the process. Second, whether Desert to Power and similar initiatives in West and Central Africa produce deals at volumes comparable to the Mauritania transaction, validating the blended finance model for wider deployment. Third, whether new international developers enter the African IPP market or whether the existing set of ACWA Power, Scatec, Globeleq, and a handful of peers continues to dominate. Utility-scale private generation is the category where African power sector expansion is most visible and most commercially mature. Its trajectory will shape how quickly African electricity systems transition from state-led models to mixed public-private structures.