What is a Blackout?
We already reported on this topic . It said there:
“A blackout occurs when the power supply fails over a large area and the coordinated creation of sub-grids and the decentralized use of suitable power plants are required to restore the supply. Power outages, such as those that occur after severe storms, are not blackouts. Regional outages can often be resolved within hours, national outages can only be resolved after a few days. A distinction must be made between short-term technical disruptions (10 – 15 minutes) in the power supply.”
Source: Mimikama
A real blackout poses great dangers, because especially in our highly technological world, all systems would collapse and cannot be stabilized again for a long period of time (possibly several days). Particularly critical infrastructure such as the healthcare system, but also transport and traffic would be particularly challenged in such a case.
Since the beginning of the energy crisis, there have been increasing statements circulating that we are affected by a major risk of blackouts. It can occur when there is a very severe imbalance in the power grid. As much electricity would always have to be fed in as was withdrawn. The network itself can stabilize small fluctuations, but large differences could become a problem. In fact, the danger has increased with the onset of the energy crisis. Nevertheless, despite the energy crisis, experts assume that such a scenario is rather unlikely.
The AfD’s “blackout detector” homepage
The AfD has created a website where users can report blackouts, which are visible to all users on a map of Germany. According to Correctiv, several blackouts had already been reported on this website. Click here for the archived version of the website. But according to the previous definition, every person living on German soil can probably prove that there has not been a single so-called blackout in Germany in the last few years. Because such a scenario would probably not have left any of us unscathed.
Only harmless power outages were reported to the AfD “blackout detector”. A few days after the page was published, users on Twitter commented that anyone on the page could report blackouts without checking and thus position them on the map. Even the AfD saw this problem and then changed the page and removed the reporting function. It made the website a non-blackout reporter because it is now no longer possible to report supra-regional, long-lasting complete blackouts. Since there were never any anyway, but only harmless power outages at most, this is probably not a particularly drastic restriction. Were at least the reported power outages true?
Were at least the information about the power outages on the website correct?
Correctiv carried out revealing research here. Five of the reports on the site at the time were randomly examined in more detail. Correctiv contacted the responsible network operators and asked about power outages. It turned out that four of the five power outages reported on the AfD “blackout detector” were not true. They were fictitious. In fact, the network operators were only able to confirm a power outage, namely in Berlin-Mitte. However, this power outage cannot be described as a blackout because it only lasted a short time and was quickly remedied.
How does the AfD react to the false reports?
Correctiv confronted the AfD with the false reports and wanted to find out whether the AfD had checked the reports to prevent misuse. Correctiv , the AfD responded in an email with: “As with all other freely accessible fault reports on the Internet, it is not possible for us to verify every single report. ” When asked further whether a report was generally checked at all, the AfD responded According to Correctiv, AfD said: “We are not responding to your questions.”
How often does the power go out in Germany?
Germany has one of the best-developed electricity grids. Especially when you travel to other countries, you realize again and again that a perfectly functioning power grid is not the norm. The Federal Network Agency states that in 2021 the power will only be out for an average of 12.7 minutes per end consumer per year. We can therefore consider ourselves lucky that we have not had to experience a complete failure in Germany in the last few decades. Let's hope it stays that way.
Source: Mimikama, web archive, Correctiv , Federal Network Agency
You might also be interested in: Blackout: How likely is this big challenge? , Why the risk of blackouts is increasing in Europe , The warning vest for chickens – a bizarre farce about Özdemir, grass and the AfD
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )