CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- South Africa, subject to electricity rationing and rolling blackouts, says it will invest in a solar power farm to meet increasing electricity demands.
The solar park will be built in the Northern Cape Province and generate 5,000 megawatts of energy, about 11 percent of the country's current power production, the BBC reported.
South Africa has been rationing electrical power since 2008.
Presently, most of the country's electricity is generated by coal-fired power plants.
The country, which also supplies electricity to a few neighbors including Zimbabwe, needs to increase its energy production by 40,000 megawatts during the next decade, the energy department says.
The Northern Cape was the ideal location for the park, Energy Minister Dipuo Peters said, and the project would create 12,300 construction jobs and more than 3,000 maintenance and operations positions.
The country is also considering a nuclear plant, which would be its second such installation, officials said.
