"Digger, tree, lightning"

More and more power outages in summer due to storms

Vienna is also increasingly being hit by severe storms, which in turn can paralyze the power supply.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/zVg)

There are significantly more power outages in summer than at other times of the year - this impression is not misleading. "We have twice to three times as many power outages across Austria in June, July and August than in the rest of the year," said Christian Call, spokesperson for Wiener Netze. "75 percent of the power disruptions are caused by third parties." This is due to the "three 'Bs' - digger, tree and lightning", he said, referring to lines damaged by construction work or storms. 

Construction work increases in the summer. Especially in cities like Vienna, where many power lines run underground, damage during excavation work is an issue. In Vienna, the proportion of power faults caused by third parties is 80 to 85 percent in summer.

Falling trees and lightning
Other external causes are storms and lightning during summer thunderstorms. Falling trees and lightning repeatedly damage overhead power lines. Transformer stations can be flooded by heavy rain and thus fail.

Lightning can also cause power outages.

(Bild: Thomas Görlitz)

The grids in Europe and also in Austria are excellently maintained and cared for, emphasized Call. Austria has an excellent electricity grid by international standards, but is still "not immune to external influences". Areas affected by power failures can often be reconnected to the functioning grid relatively quickly, at least in part, by remote control using detour. The rest of the outages have to be rectified manually, explained the Wiener Netze spokesperson.

Grid load still higher in winter
There is no increased electricity consumption in Austria in summer - for example due to air conditioning systems - and any associated problems. The grid load in the electricity network "is still significantly higher in winter than in summer", said Call. In winter, more people are at home, it is not light for as long and therefore more lights are turned on and people cook at home more often. In addition, heating systems are equipped with circulation pumps, for example, which also increases electricity consumption in winter.