"It can happen at any time": power cut in Schleswig-Holstein causes millions in damage

Maurice Forgeng, Epoch Times

In brief:

• The power cut of 18 October in Schleswig-Holstein led to thousands of damage reports.
• An overvoltage damaged or destroyed household appliances and heat pumps.
• So far, damages amounting to 16 million euros have been claimed from the grid operator.
• Energy expert Stefan Spiegelsperger sees parallels with an overvoltage incident from around three years ago.

On the morning of Sunday, 18 October, a large-scale power cut occurred in the west of Schleswig-Holstein. Around 40,000 households were affected. For most of them, power returned after about two hours. By 5 p.m., power had been restored to all customers, as “Ihr Anzeiger” reported. But this power cut was different from others. In its aftermath, damage reports piled up. By Wednesday, 4 November, the local grid operator Schleswig-Holstein Netz (SH Netz) had, by its own account, received around 5,000 of them.

The cause of the damage: an overvoltage immediately after the power cut destroyed many electrical devices. These include household appliances, heat pumps and other technical equipment.

Damage amounting to 16 million euros

SH Netz has put the total sum of damages claimed so far at around 16 million euros. However, SH Netz said this amount cannot be equated with the damage established or eligible for compensation. That will only be determined once all the reports received have been reviewed. Given the high number of reports, it is currently still unclear how long processing will take. The energy company intends to prioritise cases involving particular personal hardship. Of the 5,000 cases, the insurers have for several days now been contacting the first roughly 300 people affected, each with a reported damage of over 10,000 euros.

How high the possible compensation claims ultimately turn out to be depends on the individual legal bases for the claims and on the specific damage. Commercial damage reports are also being processed. However, reviewing them may take longer because of the different types of damage and legal requirements. SH Netz is also developing a hardship solution. Under this, money is to be made available on a voluntary basis, as a goodwill gesture and without acknowledging any legal obligation, to help people with particular burdens caused by the power cut. At present, the overall scope of this hardship solution is still unclear and depends on the nature and amount of the damages claimed. However, an amount in the single-digit millions is emerging.

How the overvoltage came about

According to the company, the power cut was triggered by the failure of a conductor connection in the 110-kilovolt grid in the Itzehoe area. As it later turned out, the cause was a wrong connecting clamp in the high-voltage grid that did not fit the power line. At this point the line broke and fell onto a pylon. This caused a short circuit and an interruption in the power supply. Normally the grid has safety systems that prevent such a large-scale outage as on 18 October, explained Ove Struck, spokesman for SH Netz.

Another factor, according to energy expert Stefan Spiegelsperger on his YouTube channel “Outdoor Chiemgau”, was excessive load on the lines in the region due to “far too much wind power in the grid”. The failure of this one line put additional strain on other lines in the region that were already running at their limit, as they had to carry the amount of electricity from the failed line as well. In the end, this meant that overvoltages reached consumers. The energy expert spoke of possibly up to 6,000 volts. Normally the low-voltage grid runs at 230 to 240 V. The overvoltages damaged or destroyed the household appliances.

Comparison with a case in the Palatinate

Spiegelsperger recalled a similar case on 3 October 2023 in the district of Kusel in Rhineland-Palatinate. There, too, a power cut led to brief overvoltages of up to 6,000 volts. That event likewise destroyed numerous electrical devices, including instantaneous water heaters in private households as well as expensive large-scale equipment belonging to companies. According to media reports from September, the affected electricity customers are still waiting for compensation. “It can happen at any time,” explained Spiegelsperger. This applies nationwide too, as the cases in Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein showed. “A line like that can snap anywhere, especially because our grids are under much more strain today than they used to be.” The lagging grid expansion and the massive expansion of renewable energies were pushing our power system to its limits ever more often – and sometimes beyond.

This article first appeared in German on Epoch Times – with kind permission of Maurice Forgeng.
Cover image: analogicus / Pixabay