Wind power towers. [File photo]

South African Energy Minister Dipuo Peters said here Wednesday that although her country had a huge potential to increase solar and wind power, nuclear energy had to be part of the domestic energy mix in order to reduce carbon dioxide emission.

Speaking to Xinhua at the ongoing three-day World Future Energy Summit (WFES) in Abu Dhabi which run its 6th edition, Peters said that solar energy and wind power would not be sufficient to satisfy South Africa's growing energy needs. "Our country's important mining industry is most energy intensive."

She said South Africa would continue to produce nuclear energy at its two reactors in Koeberg at Western Cape to provide reliable and affordable energy to the country's 52 million inhabitants. Nuclear power provides 5 percent of South Africa's energy needs, while the bulk of electricity is delivered from coal and water power.

Earlier in the day, U.S. energy corporation ExxonMobil said at the summit that the use of nuclear power in the global energy mix would double by 2040 "mainly due to the rising electricity demand and the desire to reduce CO2-emissions."

Minister Peters said that her government would review every two years its national energy mix. "If wind and solar power become more efficient in the future we are open for any major changes in our energy mix," said Peters who added that the last plan was decided 5 days after the tragic meltdown in Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant following an earthquake and Tsnunami on March 11 2011.