South Africa to build 1,500MW solar park

South Africa, which is battling with power shortages, plans to build a solar park in the Northern Cape province to produce an additional 1,500 megawatts, a senior energy official said on Monday.

“We are putting the project plan in place and could open up the bidding process this year or early next. It’s a question of a couple of months,” Omphi Aphane, deputy director general in the energy ministry, told Reuters at a Cape Town conference on renewable energy.

Africa’s most advanced economy is investing heavily in renewable energy to counter chronic electricity deficits but power utility Eskom’s ageing grid is making feeding more electricity into the system difficult.