If a blackout cuts the power: municipality wants to buy "life raft".

Created: 11/30/2022, 06:45 am

By: Andreas Höger

Electricity supplier on wheels: This emergency power generator is even mobile and has a light pole.

It is still unclear how many devices and in which version the Otterfing municipality will order.

A device costs around 20,000 euros – at least © mm archive

A long power outage is considered an unlikely scenario in Germany.

But the times when the topic of civil protection was smiled off are over in the town halls.

The municipality of Otterfing wants to buy an emergency power generator - as a life raft in the event of a blackout.

Otterfing

– Little works without electricity.

If there is no energy coming out of the socket, it's just annoying and annoying at first.

But such moments give an idea of ​​how quickly a longer blackout can make life very uncomfortable in our electricity-hungry everyday life - and in individual cases can even threaten life and limb.

What to do if the heating fails in winter?

Or the juiceless mobile phone can no longer make an emergency call?

In view of an increased threat situation - climate change favors storms, Russia's aggressiveness is aimed at infrastructure and energy supply - the municipality of Otterfing now wants to arm itself better.

In its most recent meeting, the municipal council decided to buy one or more emergency generators.

Their generators should be powerful enough to keep at least the town hall, the elementary school and the fire station under power in the event of a power failure.

"We are required to upgrade our properties accordingly," explains Florian Mang from the municipal building authority on request.

Among other things, it is important not to let the central wood chip system in the school, which supplies heat, cool down.

In addition, the power generators are crucial for “disaster lighthouses” that every municipality should set up as a contact point for the population in the event of a prolonged blackout.

At a central location - in Otterfing the area around the town hall, school and fire brigade is ideal - first aid and up-to-date information on the current situation would be available, since the mobile phone network might also break down.

In addition, citizens could heat up food there (baby food) or charge the batteries of essential devices.

However, all of this requires an independent power source – the emergency power generators.

As Mang explains, an engineering office is currently using a long-term measurement that runs for about ten days to determine how much electricity the three central community buildings in the town center need during the dark season.

"The power requirement is determined individually for each building," explains Mang.

Once the data is available, it is possible to calculate how strong the units need to be.

"And then we know whether one unit is enough - or whether we need three," says Mang, who is also Otterfing's fire department commander.

The fire brigade already has a smaller emergency power generator, says Mang: "But this is only intended for use, the device should remain with the vehicles."

The aggregates are operated by diesel engines.

Mang estimates the cost of a device at 20,000 euros and higher, "depending on what the municipality wants".

It is possible, for example, to add a trailer to increase mobility, to equip the device with even more sockets or even to configure a small light pole.

The equipment then probably also influences the delivery times.

"A standard version is probably quicker to get," believes Mang.

The community's water supply is already secured.

If the worst comes to the worst, the wells are supplied with electricity by an independent emergency system.

"Therefore, our drinking water production does not have to be tested," says Mang.

Another current topic from Otterfing can be found here.