Without paywall: https://web.archive.org/web/20240308161113/https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/03/07/why-africa-is-cryptos-next-frontier

They are starting to get it:

Yet many of the continent’s renewable-energy projects are stalled because there are not enough local consumers who are able to buy electricity to make them financially viable. By offering themselves as buyers of last resort, crypto-miners can help to stabilise demand for power and ensure utilities turn a profit. In doing so, they might also incentivise the investment needed to provide electricity to the estimated 600m people in Africa, roughly half its population, who do not have access to power from the grid.