Eskom Refutes Claims of Impending Power Grid Collapse in Official Media Statement

Eskom assures South Africans that the national electricity grid is not on the verge of collapsing, despite recent concerns raised on social media. These claims of an imminent blackout have been refuted by Eskom. The company stated confidently that measures have been put in place to prevent the collapse of the power system, with loadshedding being one of the mechanisms.

While a national blackout is a risk when operating a large power system, Eskom maintains that it is unlikely to happen, thanks to extensive control measures such as loadshedding that have been implemented. The power grid is not at a higher risk of collapsing, and it would take unforeseen and sudden events resulting in a cascading breakdown of the transmission or generation system for such a collapse to occur. However, Eskom has robust contingency plans in place to mitigate any such eventuality.

At the Enlit Africa conference, interim GCE Calib Cassim reiterated his confidence in the staff at the System Operator to manage the tight system, stating that he does not lose sleep on the issue. For the past three years, the staff has been competent in managing the system. Eskom also continues to drive its generation recovery initiatives, which will prevent any deterioration in the short-term, and improve the performance of the generation fleet in the long-term.

Eskom will provide an update on the power system and the outlook for winter, including contingency measures to avoid higher stages of loadshedding, during the State of System media briefing scheduled to happen on Thursday.

The official statement from Eskom is attached below:

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