Germans living in the southwest of the country were told to limit electricity use on the morning of January 3 over issues to do with the local grid.
Regional grid operator TransnetBW announced on the evening of January 2 that local demand had led to power lines between the north and southwest of Germany becoming overloaded, leaving the State of Baden-Württemberg short.
As a result, many people in the region were urged via phone app notification to use as little electricity as possible between the hours of 8am and 11am on January 3.
Regarding the request, TransnetBW insisted there was “no need to fear power outages” but that it needed to import additional power from abroad and bring online auxiliary fossil fuel power stations to keep the lights on.
“To stabilise the grid, TransnetBW must draw on large amounts of electricity from conventional power plants and neighbouring countries,” the company wrote on its StromGedacht electricity app.
“With your help, the high costs of these measures for the general public can be reduced and CO2 emissions saved.
“There is no risk of a power outage. However, TransnetBW must do more than usual to keep the network stable.”
Residents were in particular asked to refrain from charging their laptops and electric cars during the morning, as well as to refrain from using energy-intensive domestic appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers, ovens, electric heaters and vacuum cleaners.
The company added that any devices that could be operated via battery power instead of the mains should be during these hours.
The Baden-Württemberg authorities bragged on December 21 about the state having a “super-green” energy grid.
The region previously sported three nuclear power plants. All have been shut down under the outgoing government as part of Germany’s nationwide nuclear phase-out.