Eskom board member says South Africa at risk of power outages

An acceleration in economic growth in South Africa could trigger power cuts, with state utility Eskom Holdings’ fragile generation system unable to respond to increased demand for electricity. The energy availability of Eskom’s generation fleet is supposed to be as high as 80%, but is currently as low as 69%, and even a 0.1% rise in gross domestic product could result in outages, Nelisiwe Magubane, an Eskom board member, said at an event organized by research company Afriforesight in Johannesburg on Wednesday.