Africa builds more homegrown solar with hopes to ease reliance on China

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Africa’s largest economies are accelerating plans to build more domestic solar manufacturing capacity, a shift industry analysts say reflects both industrial ambition and growing unease over dependence on imports from China that dominate the global market. Ethiopia, South Africa, Morocco and Nigeria have been stepping up efforts to localize manufacturing of equipment for solar power, from module assembly to more advanced manufacturing, according to industry experts. However, they say China is likely to retain its dominant global role in making solar cells and other components. Its exports of such equipment have soared, partly due to a…