France President Francois Hollande, has announced a 1.5 billion euro deal between the South Africa and his country for a thermal power plant.

Speaking in South Africa during his visit, President Hollande disclosed this at a joint press conference with President Jacob Zuma, saying the agreement between  French energy firm GDF Suez and South Africa will also cover a solar plant.

South Africa is currently unable to meet demand for the energy and in 2008, there were rolling power cuts.

The country has now embarked on a multi-billion-dollar building spree to set up a new power plants that would double electricity supplies over the next two decades.

Heavily reliant for decades on coal, it is now considering other energy sources including nuclear power and shale gas.

In its bid to reduce over reliant on coal, the country plans to add more than 50,000 megawatts of electricity to the grid and hope to generate at least 3,725 megawatts in green energy.

President Hollande also announced the conclusion of a deal worth more than 4 billion euros by Alstrom to overhaul South Africa’s passenger rail service, PRASA.

Under the deal, which was first announced in December last year, Alstrom would build 600 trains and 3,600 wagons over a 10-year-period from 2015 to 2025.