Facing a saturated domestic market and fierce competition in European and US markets, Chinese companies are now advancing into Africa with a full range of commercial activities along the production chain, including the export of wind turbines and solar panels, the development of new
equipment manufacturing facilities, and the
financing and construction of new renewable energy generation facilities such as wind and solar farms.7 China's increasing engagement in the promotion of renewable energy projects in Africa
seems to have gone almost unnoticed; but how significant is this engagement, what form does it take and how can it best be explained?