South Africa
ZAFSouth Africa is third in the world for coal.
Coal supplies 81% of its electricity.
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.
Among the most carbon-heavy electricity anywhere.
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.
South Africa generates a surplus and sells it on.
What this means
The share of what this country generates that is sold abroad rather than used at home. A country can only export if it produces more than it needs, which usually means plentiful hydro, nuclear or wind.
Almost everything this grid runs on comes from inside the country.
What this means
How much of what this grid runs on the country can supply itself. Sun, wind and water count fully, because nobody can cut them off; coal, gas and oil only as far as the country digs them up. A high score is not the same as a good grid: mining your own coal scores well, importing uranium scores badly.
Also true of South Africa
South Africa's electricity is dirtier than the world average.
699 grams of CO2e a kilowatt-hour against a world figure of 458 — 53% above.
South Africa gets next to none of its electricity from oil, in a region built on it.
47% of grids in Africa draw more than a tenth of their power from oil.
South Africa is second in Africa for how much electricity it makes.
243 TWh a year.
South Africa’s neighbours
MozambiqueMozambique has about as many people as Saudi Arabia, and 23 times less electricity to share between them.
ZimbabweHydro overtook coal on Zimbabwe's grid in 2017.
BotswanaBotswana is first in the world for coal.
NamibiaNamibia is second in the world for solar.
EswatiniHydro overtook bioenergy on Eswatini's grid in 2021.
Figures are for 2025, the most recent year reported for South Africa. Generation shares are a percentage of electricity generated, not of energy used. How this is calculated.