Let's start with some good news: Despite all prophecies of doom, the power grid has become more reliable since the expansion of solar and wind power. Every year the Federal Network Agency reports how long each German has been without electricity on average each year. Since the start of the measurement in 2006, this value has halved to 10.73 minutes, while the share of renewable energies in gross electricity consumption has quadrupled. Renewables do not inevitably lead to power outages. But of course there is no guarantee that it will stay that way. Nuclear phase-out, sluggish network expansion, lack of storage. Those are some serious question marks. It is nevertheless unwise to concentrate one-sidedly on the energy transition as a blackout ghost, because one is only too happy to ignore how fragile the electricity grid is in other places.
This year, extreme weather cut off dozens of people, from Texas to Ahrweiler, from basic supplies. And last week alone, supposedly banal things thwarted a lot of electrons. A faulty cable turned off the power to 20,000 households in Wiesbaden. In Dresden, a metal-coated balloon ran out of breath so precisely over the substation that 300,000 households and companies were affected. The police rule out an act of sabotage after an investigation. But it is conceivable to paralyze a city with nothing but a fair balloon. That gives food for thought, because if you believe experts, we have so far shown more luck than brains with our idea of cybersecurity in the energy system. So we close with sobering news. The network needs more of everything: cables,Storage, raised floors, protection.