Germany's electricity grid stable amid energy transition
Germanys power grid stability and security of supply has been stable over recent years despite a huge expansion of intermittent green electricity production. Average power outages per consumer amounted to , a slight decrease from almost 14 minutes in 2018, according to the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA).
"The energy transition and the rising share of decentralised generating capacity continue to have no negative effects on the quality of supply," in 2020. The slightly higher level of interruptions in 2017 (a little over 15 minutes) was caused by extreme weather events like storms, floods and snow, rather than the energy transition. "Interruption times in the distribution network caused by weather events more than doubled compared to a year earlier," the BNetzA compared to 2016, where outages averaged less than 13 minutes per consumer.
When systematic monitoring started in 2006, average outage times exceeded 20 minutes (see graph). In the same period, the share of renewable electricity production in Germany , mostly from fluctuating sources such as wind and solar power stations.
The statistic is based on the international System Average Interruption Duration Index (), which measures the total duration of electricity blackouts longer than three minutes for the average customer.
Germany's security of supply is among the best in Europe, according to theCouncil of European Energy Regulators (CEER). , the countrys SAIDI score including exceptional disruptions ranked second in the European Union. Only Switzerland fared better. By contrast, the UK, France and Spain each had around 50 minutes of disruptions per year. Romania had the longest interruptions, averaging 371 minutes.
Globally, Germany also fares very well. US citizens on average went without power for an average of almost eight hours in 2017, . In Western Australia's three grids, the .
Generally, security of supply . In Germany, more than , whereas in the US with around 40 percent and Australia and many Southern European countries, . This makes the grid more vulnerable to being disrupted, for example by fallen tree branches.
The sources of energy generation so far have little impact on security of supply. But grid operators in Germany have to go to great lengths to balance asymmetric production of green electricity across their networks. The amount of so-called re-dispatch measures has risen strongly. Redispatch is when the grid operator forces a power station to lower production in a region with oversupply, and directs another plant in a low-production region to higher output. The cost is passed on to consumers.
For more details on Germany's electricity network, read the dossierThe energy transition and Germanys power grid and the factsheets Re-dispatch costs in the German power grid and Set-up and challenges of Germany's power grid.