Double the power by 2026
South Africa’s state power utility Eskom said it planned to almost double its generation capacity by 2026, as it seeks to ease power shortages that have dented economic growth.
The announcement came one day after the company said it was doubling its spending to 343 billion rands (37.2 billion dollars, 27.3 billion euros) over the next five years to build new electricity generating plants and expand the transmission lines.
That spending is likely to grow to more than one trillion rand by 2026 as the company seeks to boost its production, the company said in a statement Tuesday.
"Eskom will double its capacity to 80,000 megawatts by 2026," from the current level of 43,037 megawatts, it said in a statement.
The beleaguered company has struggled to meet growing demand for electricity and earlier this year was forced to introduce power rationing, which has hurt the economy and especially the critical mining industry.
The ambitious new spending scheme includes new nuclear and coal power station projects, the statement said.
Eskom currently generates about 45 percent of electricity used on the continent and 95 percent of electricity used locally.
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