User Guide: Interactive Map of Chinese Energy Projects in Africa

China’s engagement in Africa’s energy sector is an important part of its broader strategic relationship with the continent. Africa suffers from a massive electricity deficit, with 43% of the population lacking access to electricity as of 2022. Over the last two decades, China has become increasingly involved in Africa’s energy sector as a major partner in infrastructure development and electrification. As a result, China has become inextricably involved in Africa’s energy landscape, yet little information is publicly available on the nature of China’s energy projects on the continent, their shareholding structures, and how they fit into Africa’s energy goals. 

For this reason, The China-Global South Project (CGSP) has created a first-of-its-kind interactive map showing Chinese energy projects across Africa. The map aims to track all projects that include Chinese financing, implementation, or stakeholder involvement. Designed to enhance transparency, we hope that this map serves as a resource for researchers, policy practitioners, and anyone interested in understanding the scope and impact of China’s energy investments across the continent. 

Using data collected by our research team based on a combination of open-source material (news articles, databases, energy project websites, and other research institutions) and primary data (interviews), CGSP has been able to compile information on Chinese energy projects that have been active in some way since 2020, including data on funding, cost, capacity, project milestones, and ownership and stakeholders.

The map is divided into three parts:

1. Interactive Map
2. Project List
3. Stories

The map includes seven categories for Chinese energy projects: solar, hydropower, coal, gas, wind, biomass, and geothermal. These different types of projects are represented by different colored dots on the map. The size of the dots also indicate the scale of the project based on investment size. Clicking on the dots will show a pop-up of the top-level details of the project, including project type, investment size, capacity, and funding company. Hitting “see details” on the pop-up will create a larger pop-up screen that includes the full details of the project.

“Project status” indicates where the project currently stands. There are eleven types of project statuses: 

• Proposed: The project has been mentioned in some form, whether through an announcement, MOU, press release, news article, or otherwise, but has not entered the planning stage.
• Planning: Relevant stakeholders are mapping out the project, but have not yet started securing permits. 
• Permitting: The project is securing necessary permits and zoning approvals.
• Announced: The project has been made public through government announcements, news articles, company press releases, or other means.
• Pending: The project is awaiting approval.
• Ongoing: The project has been approved and construction has begun.
• Complete: construction works are complete but the project is not yet operational.
• Active: The project is ongoing and feeding power to the grid.
• Suspended: The project was approved and began construction but was put on hold. This can occur for various reasons, including funding issues, contract breaches, political instability, etc.
• Dormant: The project is not in operation but could resume operations. 
• Retendering: The project is changing stakeholders or financing. 

The map can also be filtered according to funder, status, type, country, capacity, and cost. Users can utilize the filters to closely investigate the impact of one particular funder, the popularity of certain types of projects, and the proliferation of high-cost or low-cost projects, among other things. 

The CGSP China-Africa Energy Map can also be viewed in a project list format. This page lists all projects and their accompanying data. Users can click on projects to open a pop-up screen that shows more information about the project. There is a search bar that can be used to search for project name. 

In two large boxes at the top of the page, CGSP keeps count of the total number of projects and the total investment. These figures will update as we update the tracker over time. The CGSP China-Africa Energy Tracker is an ongoing project. We will be updating the map quarterly to ensure that all data is current.

The first tier of the content bouquet will consist of analysis of the map itself and what this data reveals about China-Africa energy trends. The second tier includes stories from local communities on how these projects affect them. The third tier will focus on broader analysis of these projects in the context of the China-Africa relationship and their geopolitical implications — “connecting the dots” of why this matters. Throughout the project, we’ll also produce work that reports on any new projects and updates or controversies around existing projects.

To start us off, China-Africa expert and CGSP’s Managing Editor Cobus van Staden has written an introduction essay describing major findings of this map and trends in China-Africa energy partnership. Read it here.

Disclaimers

The information on the dashboard is for informational and non-commercial purposes. Neither The China-Global South Project nor its partners can be held liable for any decision made or action taken relying on this website’s information. Information on the dashboard is subject to change at any time and without warning.

Because this data was collected and compiled from various sources such as civil society organizations, research institutions, and publicly available news reports, the results should be estimates rather than absolute values.For more information about this interactive map and dataset, please contact CGSP Editor-in-Chief Eric Olander: eric@chinaglobalsouth.com.

Copyright 2023 The China Africa Project. All Rights Reserved.