South Africa has imported more Chinese solar panels than any other African country, accumulating 17GW since 2017, according to data from energy think tank Ember. But its dominance is fading: annual imports peaked at over 4GW in 2023, during the height of the country's electricity crisis, and have decreased each year since. Egypt is the second-largest cumulative importer at 8.2GW, though its import pattern has been uneven. It had a surge in 2018, which was followed by years of relatively modest volumes before a major import of 2.3GW of solar panels in 2025. Nigeria (5.9GW) and Morocco (4.7GW) round out the top four, both showing steady year-on-year growth. The most dramatic recent shifts have come from Algeria and the DRC. Algeria imported less than 0.03GW before 2024, then surged to over 2GW in 2025 alone as the country accelerated its push to generate 15GW of solar power by 2035, making it the continent's second-largest annual importer that year. The DRC is now moving even faster: in just the first four months of 2026, it has already imported more panels than in the whole of 2025, driven by demand from its mining sector and a broader national energy transition.