A woman and child walk along a dirt road with power lines at sunset, highlighting infrastructure development challenges in Africa.
For decades, Africa’s electricity problem has been framed as a generation gap—build more power plants, solve the crisis. But a quieter, equally critical challenge has lurked in the background: transmission. While state utilities once held a monopoly on power lines, a new era of private investment is sparking a continental transformation. Uganda is leading the charge with the Amari project, Africa’s first independent transmission venture to reach construction. Kenya and Ethiopia are close behind, signing deals to bring private capital into their grids. South Africa is also joining the party, pre-qualifying international consortia to build thousands of kilometers of new lines. The timing is crucial: with 600 million Africans still off-grid and governments burdened by debt, alternative financing models have become a necessity for the continent to boost its electrification drive, unlock renewable growth, and expand access.
African Business