Ten years ago, in 2014, 90% of South Africa’s electricity was generated from coal, in 2024 it was 82%, according to global energy think tank Ember’s data. In January 2025, coal reached a new monthly low of 74.3% of the electricity mix.
The rise of low-carbon energy in the past decade has been remarkable. More than 40% of the world’s electricity was generated using low-carbon energy sources – renewables plus nuclear – in 2024, according to Ember.
Solar has been driving the rise in renewables and contributed 7% of the electricity mix in 2024. South Africa generated 8% of its electricity from solar sources in 2024.
Thanks to the rapid increase in renewables, South Africa generated 16.7% of its electricity from low-carbon sources in 2024. Only 3.5% of that was nuclear, five years ago nuclear contributed 5%.
Africa as a whole produces 25% of its electricity from low-carbon sources, mostly hydro.
Fossil fuels are still the source of almost 60% of the world’s electricity. Coal is the biggest source at 34.4%, followed by gas at 22%.