Sunday evening from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.: TransnetBW calls on the south-west to save electricity

The electricity network operator TransnetBW has called on people in Baden-Württemberg to save electricity late on Sunday afternoon and in the evening in order to avoid a bottleneck.

If possible, household appliances such as washing machines should not be used between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., TransnetBW announced in the morning in Stuttgart.

Devices such as laptops should also be operated with rechargeable batteries.

The time up to 5 p.m. should be used to charge the batteries or use electrical household appliances.

However, that does not mean that power cuts are to be feared, the company emphasized.

The background is a so-called redispatch - an intervention in power generation to avoid bottlenecks.

In the north, such a high level of wind is expected during the day that the transmission capacity to the southwest is not sufficient, explained a spokeswoman.

"It's like a traffic jam on the autobahn." To cover the redispatch requirement in Baden-Württemberg, more than 500 megawatts of power plant capacity should then be obtained from abroad.

With an adjusted power consumption, however, citizens could also make an active contribution to keeping the power grid stable.

There are always redispatch measures to varying degrees.

"The gradual phase-out of nuclear energy and the increased feed-in of electricity from renewable energies are affecting the load flows in the grid and are causing grid operators to have to carry out redispatch measures more frequently than before," says the Federal Network Agency.

Since grid expansion is not that far along, there are often imbalances between the high level of electricity generation, for example from wind power in the north, and consumption in the south.

TransnetBW has developed the “StromGedacht” app for consumers: it shows “yellow” for Sunday during the day and thus advises bringing electricity consumption forward or postponing it.

At 5 p.m. the traffic light turns red.

That means: reduce consumption.

This also has consequences for the purse: According to the information, the costs for the redispatch are apportioned via the network charges and thus reach the end consumer via the electricity bill.