Across African energy and transport markets, some of the most useful solutions are being built around the practical realities users navigate every day: battery-swapping for riders who cannot wait hours to charge, solar monitoring for systems spread across remote sites, hybrid microgrids that can be repaired locally, and hospital utilities that generate power and oxygen on site.
Engineers across the continent are developing solutions for these conditions. Their work reflects local infrastructure realities, user behaviour, affordability, maintenance needs and routes to market. Many are building ventures around technologies that can be deployed, serviced and scaled in the communities they are designed to serve. The result is a growing field of energy and mobility businesses focused on practical resilience. This means keeping solar systems operational, supporting cleaner transport, reducing diesel dependence, improving rural power access and strengthening healthcare infrastructure.
Fusion Wind Turbine, Ghana
Diesel replacement is the focus of Johannes Amo-Aye’s Fusion Wind Turbine, a Ghana-developed hybrid microgrid system for off-grid communities, schools and health centres, shortlisted for the 2026 Africa Prize. Developed through MINAGIE Energy, the system uses a gearless vertical-axis wind turbine with a solar arch to generate power across different weather conditions. It is designed to be locally repairable, quieter than diesel generators and suitable for remote settings, with around 90% of components designed and manufactured in Ghana.
Rural health centres are one clear use case. Fusion Wind Turbine has delivered more than 6000 hours of clean energy at Adeiso and Asitey Health Centres in Ghana’s eastern region, supporting vaccine preservation and helping safeguard more than 300 maternal deliveries each year. At Adeiso Health Centre alone, the system has eliminated diesel costs of around $600 per month. MINAGIE Energy has trained 12 technicians through its MTEDI programme, with plans to reach more than 200 young people as it scales.
Just Add Water, Nigeria
In Nigeria, Derick Nwasor’s Just Add Water is designed for healthcare facilities that need reliable electricity and medical-grade oxygen, and is also shortlisted for the 2026 Africa Prize. The system uses regenerative fuel cell technology to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, providing both services on site. The hydrogen generates electricity and the oxygen is captured for medical use, helping hospitals reduce dependence on diesel and third-party oxygen delivery.
Just Add Water has already been deployed in three hospitals in Lagos, generating clean electricity and producing medical-grade oxygen for patient care. The venture has been recognised as a winner of the Harvard Business School Africa New Venture Competition, and is now scaling its quantum and AI-optimised regenerative fuel cell system from 100 kW towards 1 MW deployments across Nigeria.
E-Safiri, Kenya
Carol Ofafa’s E-Safiri applies a practical approach to cleaner mobility in Kenya, with solar-powered charging and battery-swapping stations for electric bicycle and motorbike users. A 2025 Africa Prize finalist, E-Safiri is designed for rural and peri-urban transport users and allows them to swap batteries at local hubs, reducing charging time and avoiding dependence on home charging. This is useful in areas where motorcycles and bicycles play a central role in work and local transport, and where charging infrastructure remains limited.
E-Safiri’s hubs are powered by solar energy and supported by smart batteries and a central dashboard that tracks energy use and battery status. Surplus power can support other local services such as phone charging, cooling, solar drying and street lighting. The company has deployed eight solar hubs and has 100 riders on the road, having avoided more than 1000 tonnes of harmful emissions. Since February 2025, E-Safiri has increased revenue 24-fold and attracted debt financing, with more than 150 customers using its hubs for services including cold storage.
Remot, Uganda
For solar providers managing installations across multiple sites, Innovex’s Remot, developed by Ugandan engineer David Tusubira, addresses a critical operational challenge: how to track system performance after deployment. Tusubira developed a hardware and software platform that monitors the performance, use and health of solar photovoltaic installations. Remot gives solar companies and energy providers real-time data on how systems are being used, while detecting inefficiencies, battery health issues and potential failures.
The system has been used across schools, solar maize mills and water pump installations in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Over the past year, Innovex expanded Remot’s role in off-grid energy management through a partnership with Ennos, manufacturing more than 1000 solar water pump controllers fitted with Innovex remote monitoring units. Through a partnership with the Energy Saving Trust, Innovex also developed predictive maintenance machine learning algorithms for off-grid appliances, strengthening Remot’s ability to support long-term system performance.
Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation
These companies demonstrate that locally grounded ideas can become scalable ventures when paired with the right business support, networks and visibility. The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, run by the Royal Academy of Engineering, has helped support this pipeline through funding, training and networking opportunities. Since 2014, the Prize has supported more than 180 businesses from 24 countries, with alumni introducing more than 700 products and services to market and benefitting more than 11 million people. The 2026 shortlist includes innovators across 11 African countries, with Lesotho and Niger represented for the first time after a record number of applications from more than 30 countries. Applications for the next Africa Prize cycle will open on 13 July 2026, and entries close on 8 September 2026.
For more information visit africaprize.raeng.org.uk
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