Zimbabwe’s July Moyo Calls for Balanced Energy Mix to Drive Africa’s Industry

Africa has seen significant investment in solar, wind, and hydropower projects, with several nations including South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, and Morocco emerging as renewable leaders.

Zimbabwe’s Minister of Power and Energy Development, July Moyo, has emphasised that Africa’s industrial ambitions cannot be realised on renewable energy alone, calling for a pragmatic balance between clean energy expansion and conventional baseload power.

Speaking at African Energy Week (AEW): Invest in African Energies 2025, Minister Moyo highlighted the continent’s dual challenge: embracing renewables for sustainability and climate goals, while ensuring that heavy industries such as steel, mining, and manufacturing have access to reliable, high-capacity electricity.

Renewables Rising, But Limits Remain

“Recent years have witnessed an increasing trend – the rise of renewable energy technologies,” Moyo said. “However, steel, mining and manufacturing require constant and high-capacity electricity. Herein lies Africa’s challenge – how to strike the right balance between scaling up renewables and maintaining the current baseload.”

Africa has seen significant investment in solar, wind, and hydropower projects, with several nations including South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, and Morocco emerging as renewable leaders. These projects have expanded electricity access in rural communities, reduced dependence on imported fuels, and supported climate commitments.

But, Moyo cautioned, renewables are intermittent by nature. Without adequate storage solutions and a reliable baseload to back them up, they cannot yet fully sustain the continent’s energy-intensive industries.

Reframing the Debate: Complementarity, Not Competition

Moyo urged policymakers, investors, and energy stakeholders to reframe renewables as complementary rather than replacement technologies. He noted that Africa’s path to industrialisation and socioeconomic growth depends on securing both:

• Baseload generation – provided by coal, natural gas, hydro, and nuclear energy to ensure round-the-clock supply.

• Renewable expansion – delivering cleaner, locally produced electricity, reducing emissions, and diversifying supply.

“Ensuring this balance will be key to securing long-term socioeconomic growth,” Moyo stressed.

Industrialisation and Energy Demand

Africa’s push for industrial growth is expected to dramatically increase electricity demand in the coming decades. With a population projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050 and a rapidly urbanising workforce, energy planners face the dual challenge of powering industries and extending universal access to households.

Heavy industries such as mining, steelmaking, and manufacturing require uninterrupted power – outages or unstable grids not only drive up costs but also deter foreign investment. Moyo argued that failing to secure reliable energy infrastructure could slow down the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and wider economic integration goals.

Toward a Balanced African Energy Future

African Energy Week 2025 is expected to produce roadmaps for investment in both renewable and conventional energy infrastructure. Discussions have centred on mobilising financing, building regional power pools, and investing in modern transmission networks to integrate diverse energy sources.

Moyo’s remarks reflect a growing recognition among African policymakers that the energy transition must be tailored to the continent’s development needs. While the global narrative increasingly pushes for net-zero targets, Africa faces the unique challenge of simultaneously addressing energy poverty, industrial growth, and climate resilience.

 

For Moyo, the way forward is clear: Africa must avoid framing the debate as renewables versus fossil fuels, and instead design an energy strategy that integrates both.

“Industrial growth cannot wait for perfect solutions,” he said. “Africa must expand renewables ambitiously, but it must also safeguard the baseload that keeps our industries alive. That is how we power our future.”