Disturbances and blackouts - lessons learned to master the energy turnaround

The "energy turnaround" is not a vision any more - it is reality. With an analysis of blackouts and important disturbances in Europe since 2003, this presentation describes the sequence of events and challenges restoring the grid. Since in most of the disturbances described renewables have been involved the paper describes concrete problems and impacts on protection and control. After every blackout, rules, transmission and distribution codes as well as national regulations have been adapted - sometimes causing new challenges and problems. This presentation sharpens the picture and shows concrete measures of how to enhance the reliability of the grid as it is penetrated more and more with distributed energy resources. This presentation does not just cover huge blackouts but also experiences in utilities and with system integrators. A huge amount of information has been collected to initiate and strengthen the discussion. An outlook summarizing disturbance statistics is also given.