South Africa will start a procurement process for an additional 2,500 megawatts (MW) of nuclear power, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said on Tuesday.

The country expects to commission the first unit of the new 2,500 MW nuclear project by 2032/33, said Zizamele Mbambo, a senior official at the energy ministry.

The announcement comes as South Africa faced its worst rolling blackouts on record this year, leaving businesses and households without power for up to 10 hours on some days. (Reporting by Wendell Roelf, Writing by Tannur Anders; Editing by Edmund Klamann, Bhargav Acharya and Shri Navaratnam)