Households and businesses are driving a solar boom in Africa, where rooftop arrays and other small systems account for the bulk of new solar installations. But this rapid buildout, which is driving solar additions to record levels, is largely unaccounted for in official statistics, analysts say.

“The rapid spread of distributed solar in sub-Saharan Africa is an underreported success story,” write analysts at the energy think tank Ember and the African Tech Futures Lab. “However, since African countries are running blind to this change, they are not reflecting this rise in distributed solar in their plans.”

Because most distributed solar systems are not tracked or regulated, most households cannot sell their surplus power back to the grid, analysts say.…