Somalia
SOMSomalia is among the world's biggest wind and solar producers and still burns fossil fuels for most of its power.
21% of its electricity is wind and solar; 79% is still fossil. Both are true at once, and that tension is the whole story of the transition.
What this grid depends on
Three measures that say more about a country than how much power it makes. Open “what this means” on any of them if the term is new.
Cleaner than 4 in 10 grids worldwide.
What this means
How much planet-warming gas is released to make one unit of electricity. Two countries can generate exactly the same amount and one of them be ten times dirtier doing it. Lower is better.
Somalia generates almost exactly what it uses, with next to nothing crossing its borders.
What this means
Electricity can be sold across a border like anything else, through high-voltage lines connecting one country's grid to the next. Buying it in means leaning on a neighbour to keep the lights on. Selling it means generating more than the country needs.
Also true of Somalia
Somalia has about as many people as the Netherlands, and 325 times less electricity to share between them.
19 million people against 18.3 million, but 23 kWh per person a year against 7,356.
Somalia generates no hydro electricity at all, in a region built on it.
60% of grids in Africa draw more than a tenth of their power from hydro.
Somalia is second in Africa for solar.
Solar supplies 19% of its electricity.
Somalia’s neighbours
KenyaKenya is first in the world for geothermal.
EthiopiaEthiopia runs almost entirely on hydro.
DjiboutiDjibouti is among the world's biggest wind and solar producers and still burns fossil fuels for most of its power.
YemenYemen has about as many people as Canada, and 126 times less electricity to share between them.
EritreaEritrea has about as many people as Qatar, and 142 times less electricity to share between them.
Figures are for 2024, the most recent year reported for Somalia. Generation shares are a percentage of electricity generated, not of energy used. How this is calculated.