African power utilities bank on crypto mining for revenue

July 01, 2025

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South Africa's power utility Eskom plans to serve the growing power demand from data centres, crypto miners and artificial intelligence outfits in future. This strategic shift comes as private power generation is eroding its traditional market share, leading to a projected 5% annual decline in demand and the shift to targeting new sectors to diversify its revenue streams.

  • Bitcoin mining is growing rapidly in Africa, with the continent’s crypto transaction volume expected to exceed $2.9 billion in 2025. South Africa is in the lead with trading volumes rising 40% year-on-year.

  • Beyond South Africa, Ethiopia's cheap power is also attracting Chinese crypto miners, with over 30 firms on the ground. Kenya, Nigeria and Angola are emerging crypto hubs.

  • Our take: Eskom should focus on meeting this new power demand with clean electricity… Read more (2 min)

Ecobank has launched a $31 million concessional financing initiative aimed at speeding up solar energy adoption across Ghana. This move adds to the growing trend of private sector-led energy consumer financing on the continent. Several other African banks have also updated their sustainability goals to include renewable energy allocations. 

  • The initiative will help households, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and agricultural cooperatives install distributed solar systems with the goal of achieving 30.6 MW in installed capacity.

  • Ghana is experiencing frequent power cuts due to insufficient supply. Households and businesses seek to go off-grid completely or access reliable backup for the existing grid.

  • Our take: Banks need specialised green-finance risk assessment tools… Read more (2 min)

Africa faces an urgent need to power 600 million people lacking electricity, despite its vast energy potential. While international interest grows, a just energy transition remains elusive. The continent needs innovative financing models in power generation and the development of transmission infrastructure, writes Alain Ebobissé in today's opinion article.

  • Alain Ebobissé is the CEO of Africa50 Group and has served in this role since 2016. Africa50 is a pan-African investment and asset management group focused on infrastructure. It has 31 African countries as shareholders, as well as the AfDB.

  • Mr Ebobissé says, while utility-scale generation projects remain vital, distributed renewable energy (DRE) systems offer an immediate, scalable and cost-effective path to electrification, particularly in underserved and rural areas.

  • Click here to read the full opinion article… (4 min)

Genesis Energy and Desert Technologies ink strategic collaboration agreement at the Africa Energy Forum in South Africa

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Seen on LinkedIn 

Joubert Roux, Co-Founder of Zero Carbon Charge, says, “I cannot understand why countries are still building national electricity grids. It is akin to building fixed-line telephone infrastructure. LCOE for microgrids are now definitively cheaper than conventional grids.”