Beyond megawatts: Africa’s energy transition will succeed or fail on its people

Billions of dollars are being invested in Africa's energy transition. Solar farms are being built, transmission networks are expanding, and new technologies are entering the continent's markets. Governments are setting ambitious renewable-energy targets, but beneath the excitement lies a crucial question: who will build, operate, regulate, maintain, and ultimately own the knowledge behind these energy projects?

At the 2026 Anglophone Africa Extractive Industries Knowledge Hub (AFREIKH) Summer School, which concluded in Accra on August 27, this question emerged as one of the most significant reflections. Organized by the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) and its partners, the eight-day program brought together 47 participants from 12 Anglophone African countries. The central theme was "Managing Africa’s Extractive Future in the Energy Transition."

One message stood above all others: Africa's energy transition is not just an infrastructure challenge, but also a human-capability challenge. The missing piece is human infrastructure. While capital, technology, infrastructure, and policies are often discussed, who installs the equipment, operates the power systems, maintains the transmission lines, regulates the market, and troubleshoots technology when it fails? Who has the expertise to improve, adapt, and eventually manufacture the technologies locally?

Successful energy projects rely on a network of engineers, technicians, managers, regulators, researchers, entrepreneurs, educators, and policymakers. Without this human capacity, Africa risks hosting energy projects without building the capability to own and sustain them.

At the AFREIKH Summer School, experts challenged participants to rethink how progress is measured in Africa's energy transition. ACEP Executive Director Benjamin Boakye emphasized the importance of beyond simply generating megawatts and attracting investment. The bigger question should be: what skills will be gained, who will benefit, and how will knowledge be transferred?

Africa needs more than just qualified individuals. It requires a comprehensive capability ecosystem, including skilled engineers and technicians, effective regulators, adaptable universities and technical institutions, competitive local companies, robust operations and maintenance systems, researchers, entrepreneurs, and professionals capable of working across sectors. The energy transition demands professionals who can operate imported technology, innovate, adapt, manufacture, regulate, and lead.

Moreover, the energy transition offers Africa a unique opportunity to move beyond its traditional role as a supplier of raw materials. The minerals needed for clean-energy technologies can become the foundation for new industries if Africa develops the skills, institutions, financing systems, and industrial policies to process them. This presents Africa with a choice: continue exporting raw materials and importing finished technologies, or use the energy transition to build African value chains.