The power supply in Bavaria works very reliably, both in Germany and internationally. Although there were also power outages in 2020, their duration over the whole year was just 8.7 minutes per end customer in this country. This put Bavaria in second place with Hessen in a state comparison. The average power outages were only shorter in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (8.3 minutes). Nationwide, the value was 10.7 minutes. Rhineland-Palatinate comes in last in Germany with an average power outage time of 19.5 minutes. This is evident from the latest figures from the Federal Network Agency.
The Bavarian energy suppliers are very happy about the good news. “Because they show that there is no evidence that the increasing share of renewable energies in the power grids is leading to more power outages,” says the managing director of the Association of Bavarian Energy and Water Supply (VBEW), Detlef Fischer. “We electricity suppliers have the challenges posed by the fluctuating electricity feed-in from wind power and photovoltaics well under control.”
The reliability of the power supply has also improved in retrospect. The power outage times in both Bavaria and Germany have not been as low since 2008 as in 2020. From Fischer’s point of view, neither the energy transition nor the corona pandemic have affected the power supply. This is thanks in particular to the willingness and know-how of the staff in the power plants and the network operators. In order for the positive trend to continue even after the two last nuclear power plants in Bavaria have been switched off, a rapid expansion of renewable energies, the power grid and electricity storage is necessary, says Fischer.
At the end of the year, the last reactor at the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant will go offline, followed by the Isar 2 nuclear power plant at the end of 2022. That is 26.5 percent of the electricity that is consumed in Bavaria. The VBEW is an association of around 400 energy and water supply companies in Bavaria. Its members include small community utilities as well as energy companies.