Electricity grids in Germany increasingly vulnerable?

How secure or insecure are the electricity grids in Germany?

The longest and most extensive power outage in post-war Germany occurred in Berlin / Köpenick at the end of February 2019. More than 30,000 households and 2,000 businesses were without power for around 31 hours. In addition, there are countless smaller blackouts across the country every day. This gives the impression that the power grid in Germany has become more susceptible to disruption overall.

Volatile electricity grids in Germany?

The perceived impression is not easily substantiated by figures. According to the Federal Network Agency, there were 143,000 power outages in Germany in 2017. In the previous year, there were 148,300 outages. Only power outages lasting longer than 3 minutes are recorded statistically. Nevertheless, the average nationwide supply interruption within a calendar year, known as the SAIDI (System Average Interruption Duration Index), increased by around 2% in 2017 compared to 2016.

Effects on critical infrastructures

Operators of critical infrastructures (KRITIS) in particular must increasingly deal with the phenomenon of vulnerable power grids. The German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) is stepping up its efforts in this area and, as part of the BSI Criticality Ordinance, is encouraging all relevant operators to actively manage risk and draw up or revise corresponding emergency plans. In the event of an emergency, every employee should therefore know exactly which steps to take, when and to what extent in the event of a blackout. The BSI issued the first part of the IT Security Act (Section 10 of the BSI Act) for the electricity and water supply, finance and food sectors back in 2016. The second part of the IT Security Act, which must be implemented by 30.06.2019, relates to the finance and insurance, healthcare, transport and traffic sectors.

Solutions for critical infrastructures

As a specialist in uninterruptible power supply solutions, Wöhrle Stromversorgungssysteme GmbH is able to develop individual, tailor-made concepts for an uninterruptible power supply together with the companies concerned, particularly for providers of critical infrastructures, so that no dramatic effects occur in the event of an emergency.