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High-voltage lines (near Grevenbroich): »load shedding« instead of blackout
Photo:
Jochen Tack/ imago images/Jochen Tack
What happens when the production of power plants and wind turbines can no longer keep up with the increasing electricity consumption in winter?
Could there then be uncontrolled, large-scale power failures in Germany, also known as blackouts?
Now one of the four major transmission system operators has spoken in the debate via the short message service Twitter.
There the Amprion Group writes that in the event of a blackout, the "power grid collapses uncontrollably.
There will then no longer be any electricity in large parts of continental Europe«.
However, such a scenario cannot be expected.
This is evident from the results of a stress test (more information can be found on the Amprion website).
It could still get dark
Different scenarios for the security of the power supply were calculated.
"Even in the worst scenario, a blackout is not to be expected," says the company.
However, that does not mean the all clear.
There could be turbulence in the power grid in winter.
"An extremely tense supply situation is expected," says Amprion.
That is why one cannot rule out the possibility of »load shortages« occurring in winter.
Load means power consumption.
Should such a situation become apparent and other options for stabilizing the power grid are not possible, »the last resort would be controlled load shedding«.
What is meant is that the network operators would then remove certain consumers – companies, but also private customers – from the power grid at a certain rhythm in a controlled manner.
According to Amprion, this will happen "by the hour" and "non-discriminatory".
No distinction will be made between companies and private households.
In contrast to the blackout, this so-called “load shedding” is regionally and temporally limited and can also be easily controlled by the network operators.
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