"The sky here's very strange. I often have the sensation when I look at it that it's a solid thing up there, protecting us from what's behind."
"But what is behind?"
"Nothing, I suppose. Just darkness. Absolute night," Paul Bowles wrote in his 1949 novel The Sheltering Sky, which is about an American couple's journey into North Africa.
Since 2007, China has helped build 160 power plants across Africa, lighting up the night sky of 27 countries, half the continent.
Fourteen more are under construction, according to data from the Boston University Global Development Policy Center.
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China-built Power Plants in Africa
Despite Africa's vast reserves of hydro, solar, and wind power, much of its renewable energy remains untapped. China is stepping in to help turn the continent's clean energy potential into reality.
In northeastern Kenya, the China-financed Garissa Solar Power Station is the first major solar plant to tap into the country's vast solar resources, making it the largest grid-connected solar plant in East and Central Africa.
In South Africa, the De Aar Wind Farm developed by a Chinese company has an installed capacity of 244.5 megawatts. It has met the demand of 300,000 households since it began operation in 2017 while reducing 619,900 tons of carbon emissions each year.
By 2026, 103 hydropower, six solar and five wind plants will have been put into operation, accounting for 66 percent of all China-built power plants in Africa.
Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, a professor of public policy at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, said multilateralism sets the tone for China's support for Africa in developing clean energy sources. "China has helped Ethiopia and other African countries with the process of low carbon green transformation," the professor said.
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Access to convenience, better healthcare, and more job opportunities ... the benefits of China-built power plants are tangible to many Africans in their daily lives.
Data source: Boston University Global Development Policy Center.
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To explore more about the power plants, you can interact with the timeline, the Earth, and the points above.
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