A major drop in frequency almost provoked a collapse in Germany’s electric grid last night. In a lapse of 62 seconds, there was a 193mHz drop in frequency, which provoked a gap of 3200 MW in the grid load. Apparently, the frequency began to be restored within 6 minutes, but grid operators were put on emergency level 5 (the highest level), which corresponds to exhaustion of the 3000 MW reserve in stand-by.
While small drops in frequency are normal in wind-produced electricity, EU environmental constraints seem to be the built-in cause of the major drop. Indeed, every night, windparks go into so-called “Emission Protection Measures” gear, which includes the winding down of some parks to protect from noise, magnetism, etc. Such a shift starts at 10 PM, and produces a frequency oscillation of ca. 60mHz. The shift occurs abruptly, while fossil-driven reserve capacities take several minutes to ramp up and restore the required frequency.
This time, however, the drop in frequency was three times bigger than usual. Furthermore, charts show that the daily shutdown in 2026 is producing an average drop in frequency which is 50% higher than in 2025. That is because more windparks have been added to the grid and therefore more of them must be taken off at 10 PM. What is it going to happen next year?
