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26 September 2007 - Eskom, South Africa's state-owned power utility, plans to spend 1 trillion rand ($143bn) through 2025 to double electricity-generation capacity and prevent power shortages as economic growth accelerates.
Eskom aims to boost capacity to 80 000 MW, spokesman Fani Zulu said. The company is currently budgeting to spend 150bn rand through 2012 to add 22 000 MW of generation capacity by 2017.
Electricity generation in South Africa has failed to keep pace with an economy growing at its fastest pace in two decades. Eskom was forced to ration power to mines and aluminium smelters at the start of this year as global demand has increased for the country's commodities including coal, metals and farm products.
"We are basing our planning on gross domestic product growth of 6 percent a year until 2025,' Zulu said. "That translates into electricity demand growth of 4 per cent a year.'
Eskom will focus on increasing capacity in nuclear, thermal and renewable-energy sources beyond 2012, he said. In the next five years, it will restart three mothballed power plants, expand capacity at two open-cycle gas turbine stations, build two coal fired plants and construct three pump-storage facilities.
The spending forecast through 2025 is a "rough estimate,' based on calculations that a 4000 MW power station will cost as much as 100 bn rand to build, Zulu said.
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