(FOCAC) Economic Watch: China’s new energy products popular in Africa

BEIJING, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) — When he first arrived in China years ago, Cameroonian businessman Tanya Emmanuel never imagined that China’s new energy sector would significantly benefit his compatriots back home.
“Yiwu has changed my fate and the lives of many people in my hometown,” said Emmanuel, who has been doing business for 10 years in the city of Yiwu, home to the world’s largest wholesale market for small commodities in east China’s Zhejiang Province.
With solar-powered pumps imported from Yiwu by Emmanuel, farm efficiency in his hometown has been remarkably improved, as farmers no longer have to fetch water from afar three times a day to water their vegetables — a valuable change in an area with abundant sunshine and unstable power supply.
Over the years, Emmanuel has sold high-quality and affordable new energy products from China to many African countries, providing “stable and low-cost solar, wind power and energy storage devices to support local hospitals, schools, communities and farms.”
“Africa boasts abundant solar resources, which are turning into tangible wealth, with the help of advanced new energy equipment and technologies from China,” Emmanuel added.
About 14 kilometers from the town of Garissa in northeastern Kenya lies the Garissa Solar Power Plant, a 55-megawatt facility and the largest grid-connected solar power plant in East and Central Africa.
The power plant, which covers about 34.4 hectares, was built by China Jiangxi International Economic and Technical Cooperation Co., Ltd.
Elizabeth Wanjiku, who owns a food stall in Garissa, previously relied on generators to run her business, especially when powering her refrigerator where she preserves her food.
However, since the solar plant was set up and the town was connected to the national grid, she now “benefits from more reliable electricity and fewer power blackouts.”
In another development, electric vehicles (EVs) are also becoming increasingly popular in African countries as Chinese EV manufacturers such as BYD, Xpeng and Neta step up their push into Africa.
“My electric vehicle is very popular among customers who are conscious about the environment,” said Paul Mwai, a taxi driver in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, who recently purchased a brand new Neta V.
“Switching to an electric vehicle has increased my earnings and brought other benefits,” said Mwai, attributing the change to the lower maintenance costs of EVs and the fact that charging is much cheaper than fueling a traditional vehicle.
Thanks to growing China-Africa trade relations, China has remained Africa’s largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years, with bilateral trade reaching a record 282.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce.
Notably, China’s exports of new energy vehicles, lithium batteries and photovoltaic products to Africa in 2023 surged year on year by 291 percent, 109 percent and 57 percent, respectively.
“Africa has benefited immensely from China’s booming green energy industry through the supply of affordable green energy products such as solar panels and batteries,” Zimbabwean economist Brains Muchemwa told Xinhua in a recent interview.
“The new green energy products have had a significant positive impact on the lives of many Africans,” said Muchemwa. ■