Cities in Germany Demand Creation of Emergency Power Reserve 0 13

The Association of German Cities (Deutscher Städtetag) is calling on the federal government of Germany to create a reserve of mobile power plants for emergencies to supply entire urban districts. "For large-scale and multi-day power outages, like the one currently in Berlin, we need to think broader than before. We need a national reserve for power outages," said the organization's CEO Christian Schuchardt in an interview published on Saturday, January 10, in the Rheinische Post.

It is especially important to provide emergency generators for hospitals and nursing homes, Schuchardt added. "But it would be even better if we could supply entire districts with heat and electricity using mobile power plants," he emphasized.

A few hours earlier, Berlin's senator for internal affairs, Iris Spranger, stated that the power supply in the German capital has stabilized again. She lifted the state of emergency in the region that had been imposed a week earlier. On the same day, the German Ministry of the Interior announced plans to create a reserve for incidents, noting that the governments of the federal states must play a key role in this, as reported by AFP.

Repair of Berlin's Power Grid Will Take Several Months

After the arson of the power grid in southwestern Berlin, a second temporary high-voltage line has been put into operation, reports the magazine Der Spiegel. "It additionally ensures power supply in the affected area," the publication cites explanations from Stromnetz Berlin, specifying that the connection was made as planned, without a repeat power outage. Both temporary lines will operate until the original state of the grid is restored. The attack caused significant damage, and repair work will take several months, Stromnetz Berlin reported.

"Berlin has shown that we are not prepared for crises of this kind. This is a disaster," said Volker Geyer, head of the German Civil Servants' Association (dbb), in a comment to the Rheinische Post. It is urgently necessary to check whether the control mechanisms and legislative requirements applicable to operators of critical infrastructure are sufficient, he added.

"What happened in Berlin can happen at any moment in other places - in Cologne, Stuttgart, Munich. But the state must not allow itself to be humiliated like this," the publication quotes Geyer. "The population expects the state to be able to act, especially in crisis situations."