Africa’s hydropower reservoirs are beginning to attract attention as potential platforms for utility-scale floating solar, creating an opportunity to add renewable generation without building entirely new power infrastructure. The model is still being tested, but projects in Zimbabwe, Ghana and Mozambique show that developers, utilities and financiers are examining whether solar and hydropower can work together as a more resilient generation system.
The attraction is largely economic. Floating solar can use transmission connections, substations and grid access already associated with hydropower facilities while requiring less land than conventional solar farms. Hydropower can also complement solar generation by providing dispatchable electricity when sunlight declines, potentially making better use of existing power assets.
Zimbabwe offers one of the largest projects currently under consideration. A 500 MW floating solar project is planned for Lake Kariba, with an initial 250 MW phase and potential expansion toward 1 GW. The project is being advanced by the Intensive Energy User Group, a consortium of large industrial electricity consumers, with financing discussions involving the African Export-Import Bank. The proposed hybrid system is intended to strengthen energy security while reducing dependence on hydropower during periods of low water availability.
Ghana provides a more advanced example. The Bui Power Authority has already developed a 5 MWp floating solar plant on the Bui Reservoir, connected to the national grid through the dam’s existing switchyard. The project is being expanded with additional floating solar capacity and battery storage, providing a practical test of how hydro-solar generation can be integrated and managed.
Mozambique is taking the model to a larger investment scale. The African Development Bank has approved $150 million in financing for a floating solar project at the Cahora Bassa Reservoir. Led by Electricidade de Moçambique, the development is intended to complement existing hydropower, diversify the electricity mix and improve resilience to climate-related changes in water availability.
The potential value extends beyond adding solar capacity. Combining floating solar with hydropower could diversify renewable portfolios, make better use of existing grid infrastructure and reduce exposure to periods of low water availability. Research has also pointed to the potential of floating photovoltaics to reduce some of the variability and climate-related risks associated with hydro-dominated power systems, although technical potential should not be confused with commercially viable projects.
Central Africa could eventually become another testing ground for the model. The region has some of Africa’s largest hydropower resources, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon, yet much of that potential remains underdeveloped. At the same time, unreliable electricity supply continues to constrain industrial activity, especially in power-intensive sectors such as mining, mineral processing and manufacturing.
For Central Africa, the potential appeal of floating solar lies not in replacing hydropower, but in complementing it. Adding solar generation to existing reservoirs could help diversify supply, make better use of hydro infrastructure and reduce the impact of periods when water availability limits generation. The technology would not solve the region’s transmission, financing or grid constraints, but it could become another tool for turning existing energy assets into more reliable sources of power.
The immediate question is therefore whether the projects now being tested can demonstrate a commercially viable model. If they do, Africa’s reservoirs could become more than sources of hydropower: they could provide platforms for expanding and diversifying the continent’s renewable power capacity.
