Critical infrastructure | Energy transition makes the electricity system more resilient

Large substations like the one here in Illingen-Uchtelfangen in Saarland can be critical points. Photo: IMAGO/Michi Jo Standl The idea of ​​causing a short circuit in an attack on substations by shooting thin wires into the lines is aimed at causing the greatest possible damage. The electricity saboteur, who has now been caught, is said to have had more than 160 targets in his sights. He apparently succeeded in two large substations - near Jänschwalde (Brandenburg) and Bergheim (North Rhine-Westphalia). It is no coincidence that large coal blocks run close to the plants. Because of the attack on the substation, they had to reduce their output or temporarily take blocks off the grid.

The power grid has always been prepared for short circuits, including in substations. Because they can also exist when lightning strikes. High-performance switches then usually separate the network section from the network. Thanks to such protection systems, lightning nowadays usually only causes short-term disturbances.

To date, the German electricity system is one of the most reliable in the world, as the industry itself emphasizes. Over the past decade, consumers in this country only lost electricity for an average of around twelve minutes per year. However, the energy system is now facing a multiplied threat. This not only includes the targeted attacks on vulnerable locations such as substations or on an important cable bridge in Berlin in January. Dangers also arise from cyber attacks, which in the future may be carried out with the help of artificial intelligence. The drone attack against Leipzig Airport also presents completely new threat scenarios.

Politicians and the energy industry alike emphasize that there cannot be 100 percent protection. The energy networks in Germany are too extensive for that. The high and extra-high voltage network alone covers around 120,000 kilometers. There should be around 250 larger substations. It should also be questioned to what extent sensitive information about the infrastructure is publicly accessible or is stored in databases that could in turn be the target of cyberattacks. So far, it has been heard that among the millions of files from the Berlin administration that were recently hacked and ultimately placed on the dark web, there are no documents about important energy infrastructure.

A law passed by the Bundestag at the end of January is intended to provide more protection against attacks. It determines which companies and facilities are part of the critical infrastructure and defines minimum standards for their physical protection. This includes, for example, emergency teams, stronger property protection or measures to ensure reliability.

Since then, the risks have not only increased, but also become more severe. At the beginning of July, the government coalition decided to strengthen the Germany Fund to include a so-called resilience dimension. The billion-dollar financial pot launched by the KfW development bank in December 2025 is actually intended to mobilize private investment capital to make Germany more competitive. A volume of up to 500 million euros was initially planned for the resilience area; around 215 million euros are currently being discussed.

"The development of a renewable electricity system is no longer just a matter of climate protection, but also serves to increase resilience."

It is not yet possible to estimate how high the costs for the safety upgrade and monitoring of the energy infrastructure will be. The Federal Association of the Energy and Water Industry (BDEW) makes it clear who has to spend how much on this and how much responsibility is divided. The head of the large industry association, Kerstin Andreae, explains that it must first be clarified in which tasks the network operators have to invest in resilience and what the state has to do when it comes to averting danger and protecting internal security.

In any case, the energy industry considers government subsidies to be indispensable in view of the increasing dangers. “With the resilience fund proposed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, we expect that companies’ investments in additional infrastructure protection will be financially secured,” explains Andreae. Not all of these costs could be financed through network fees.

In addition to the financial aspects, a number of legal questions still need to be clarified, for example whether and how companies with critical energy infrastructure can set up their own drone defense system or hire a corresponding service provider. Until now, this has actually been a sovereign task of the state.

The BDEW apparently lacks a central contact in the government for the multitude of questions that need to be clarified. This should “determine responsibility for energy resilience across departments,” suggests the head of the association.

In the longer term, the energy transition is working towards resilience. This has to do with the changing architecture of the power system. Instead of large, central power plants with high output, the power grid could become more resilient with the developing decentralized structures, noted Jutta Hanson, an expert in electrical energy supply at the TU Darmstadt, some time ago. A whole series of additional requirements are required. It is not enough for every house to have photovoltaics on the roof. The systems would then have to be able to work without an external network. According to Hanson, this is technically possible, but only a few solar systems are equipped accordingly.

Experts agree that a lot of time and money still needs to be spent to actually transform an increasingly decentralized network into a resilient network in the event of a large-scale disruption. This will not be the case tomorrow, but rather the day after tomorrow, according to Hanson's forecast. BDEW boss Kerstin Andreae can also get used to the helpful idea of ​​decentralization, as she emphasizes: “Building a renewable electricity system is no longer just a matter of climate protection, but also serves to increase resilience.”

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