Seychelles
SYCThe Seychelles is among the world's biggest wind and solar producers and still burns fossil fuels for most of its power.
16% of its electricity is wind and solar; 84% 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 3 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.
Seychelles 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 Seychelles
The Seychelles uses more electricity per person than any country in Africa.
4,830 kWh per person per year, first of 53.
the Seychelles' electricity is dirtier than the world average.
556 grams of CO2e a kilowatt-hour against a world figure of 458 — 21% above.
The Seychelles has cleaned up its grid faster than most people realise.
Low-carbon electricity went from 2% to 16% in 10 years.
Seychelles’s neighbours
ComorosThe Comoros is first in the world for oil.
SomaliaSomalia is among the world's biggest wind and solar producers and still burns fossil fuels for most of its power.
MadagascarMadagascar has about as many people as Saudi Arabia, and 176 times less electricity to share between them.
MauritiusOil overtook coal on Mauritius' grid in 2022.
KenyaKenya is first in the world for geothermal.
Figures are for 2024, the most recent year reported for Seychelles. Generation shares are a percentage of electricity generated, not of energy used. How this is calculated.