South Africa is proposing six new nuclear power plants and an increasing emphasis on renewable energy sources to meet steadily rising demand while also reducing its reliance on coal, a draft government document published Friday showed.

The plans are being made as Africa's biggest economy continues to struggle with an energy shortage that has forced electricity rationing on the mining industry and prompted Rio Tinto PLC (RTP) to last year shelve plans for a $2.6 billion aluminum smelter.

The government envisages a fleet of nuclear plants that would contribute at least 9.6 gigawatts by 2030 on top of coal-fired power stations that would generate as much as 5GW, according to the Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity draft, published on the Department of Energy's web site.

It suggests that the remainder of the country's power would come from wind, solar, open cycle gas turbines and other sources.

Almost all of South Africa's electricity is currently generated and distributed by state-owned Eskom Holdings Ltd., which operates a fleet of coal-fired plants and the 1,800 megawatt Koeberg nuclear station about 30 kilometers northwest of Cape Town.

-By Robb M. Stewart, Dow Jones Newswires; +27 11 783 7848; robb.stewart@dowjones.com
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