Disturbances and blackouts — Lessons learned to master the Energy Turnaround

The "Energy Turnaround" is not a vision anymore - it is reality. With an analysis of blackouts and important disturbances in Europe since 2003 this paper 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. The paper sharpens the picture and shows concrete measures how to enhance the reliability of the grid penetrated more and more with distributed energy resources. This publication does not just cover huge blackouts but also experiences in utilities and with system integrators. The authors collected a huge amount of information and collect them in this paper to initiate and strengthen the discussion. An outlook summarizing disturbance statistics is finalizing this paper.