Palapye is a large town in Botswana, situated about halfway between Francistown and Gaborone (240 km away from Gabarone and 170 km away from Francistown). Over the years its position has made it a convenient stopover on one of Southern Africa's principal north–south rail and road routes. Located here is the Morupule Colliery coal mine, which supplies Morupule Power Station, Botswana's principal domestic source of electricity. The power station has undertaken an expansion project to increase its generation capacity in an effort to meet the country's increasing demand for electricity. Construction began in 2010. Currently, the plant produces 120 MW of electricity.