Civil protection workers expect power outages in winter

by time news

Wowing to the tense situation in the energy supply, the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) estimates that there will be power outages in Germany in the coming months that will exceed the previous level. “We have to assume that there will be blackouts in winter,” said BBK boss Ralph Tiesler of the newspaper Welt am Sonntag. “By that I mean a regional and time-limited interruption of the power supply.”

However, the cause is then not only energy shortages, but also the targeted, temporary shutdown of the grids by the operators in order to protect the grids and not endanger the overall supply. “The risk of this increases from January and February, so we assume that from then on there will be power supply interruptions for a certain period of time,” said Tiesler.

In this context, the BBK President criticized the fact that government agencies were not always adequately prepared for crisis situations such as power failures. Some of the municipalities and authorities are “really exemplary”, with precise plans and ensuring the power supply through emergency generators on site. “Others are in a much worse position, they are not sufficiently prepared. It’s very different, ”explained the head of the authority.

Gas storage is full

At the same time, the “Energy Storage” initiative, an association of operators of German gas and hydrogen storage facilities, gives a positive outlook. According to this, Germany will survive the winter and probably the next too, even if Russian gas supplies remain curbed. If there are no “extremely low temperatures” in the next few months, a shortage is “very unlikely”, according to an Ines report. According to industry experts, the gas storage facilities should be able to be refilled before next winter, even if they are largely emptied in the coming season.

The study examines three scenarios of normal, warm, and cold weather. The result: Europe’s largest economy may be able to avoid a scenario in which gas needed for industry, power generation and home heating needs to be rationed. “Filling the gas storage means that we will most likely get through the coming winter well,” explained Ines boss Sebastian Bleschke.

Federal Network Agency contradicts BBK boss

The Federal Network Agency contradicted the warning from the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance. “Germany has one of the world’s most reliable power supply systems,” a spokesman for the Federal Network Agency told the Funke newspapers. “There are numerous mechanisms and reserves for stabilizing the power grid in tense situations.”

Mild weather is currently helping

Germany has spent billions of euros to deal with the energy crisis. In light of Moscow’s war in Ukraine, liquefied natural gas is set to replace Russian gas flows. In order to reduce the use of gas to generate electricity and to channel larger volumes into storage, the federal government has extended the operating times of coal and nuclear power plants. The reservoirs are now almost 100 percent full.

The weather helped. The mild temperatures have delayed the start of the heating season in Europe. For the coming weekend, however, a cold snap is expected in Berlin, during which temperatures are likely to fall below zero degrees Celsius. This is the first real test for heating demand. In order to increase liquefied gas imports from the USA and Qatar, Germany intends to use several LNG terminals next year. According to the Ines study, they will be decisive for the refilling of gas storage facilities.

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