威力彩玩法

News
12 Jan 2021, 14:28
Kerstine Appunn

European power grid disturbance has German energy intensive industry worried

威力彩玩法

A disturbance in the synchronised European high-voltage power grid on Friday, 8 January 2021, which resulted in a separation of European grid regions, led the German Association of the Industrial Energy and Power Industry (VIK) to warn 鈥渘ot to lose sight of the issue of grid stability and security of supply.鈥 Germany could not assume that it would somehow be supplied from other European countries if there was not enough electricity here,鈥 VIK managing director Christian Seyfert said in a聽. Their worries were echoed by Austrian utility EVN, whose spokesperson聽聽that Austria needed 鈥渇ast-starting gas power plants鈥 so that it could ensure secure power supply without depending on coal and nuclear power plants in neighbouring countries. 鈥淚 can understand the industry's concern, but I would not see the disturbance last week as too dramatic. The incident has clearly shown that the existing processes for stabilisation have worked very well,鈥 Hendrik Neumann, Chief Technical Officer at German transmission grid operator Amprion told 威力彩玩法.

The incident on Friday, which cut Europe's power grid into a south-eastern and a north-western part for about an hour as one of the most critical near-blackout situations since the region鈥檚 last聽. It happened after a sudden drop in frequency of around 0.25 Hertz (Hz) (the grid frequency has to remain stable at 50 Hz with only the slightest deviations permitted) in south-eastern Europe.聽As a result, the synchronised European grid was split into two separate 鈥渋slands鈥 and grid operators had to initiate contracted load shedding in Italy and France to keep the grid stable. In some regions, sensitive machinery automatically stopped working, according to . It remains unclear what the exact reasons for this were, with flaws in grid connections in South-East Europe being named as possible culprits. The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) 聽鈥渢he immediate response taken by the continental European transmission system operators ensured that the system stability was not affected in most European countries.鈥

According to its nuclear and coal exit plans, Germany will shut more and more conventional power stations in the coming years. More renewable power generation, more and improved grid connections and modern technology are to substitute both the electric capacity and system stability services formerly provided by coal and nuclear plants. Some warn that this will not be achievable in the short to medium term and argue that additional gas fired plants will be necessary to ensure a smoothly running power system.

All texts created by the 威力彩玩法 are available under a . They can be copied, shared and made publicly accessible by users so long as they give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.
« previous news next news »

Ask 威力彩玩法

Sven Egenter

Researching a story? Drop 威力彩玩法 a line or give us a call for background material and contacts.

Get support

+49 30 62858 497

Journalism for the energy transition

Get our Newsletter
Join our Network
Find an interviewee