German power distributor Westnetz restores mid-voltage grid for flooded regions

Recovery operations to restore power in the flooded regions of Germany's Rhineland region continued July 19 with the mid-voltage grid operational again, local distribution grid operator E.ON Westnetz said.

The distribution network operator, or DSO, with 4.7 million customers in the region had some 100,000 customers without electricity on July 16 after extreme flooding devastated communities mainly along rivers flowing into the Rhine from the West such as Ahr and Moselle.

The DSO recorded some 37 outages on the mid-voltage and 72 outages on the low-voltage grid as grid assets such as the Rheinbach substation were flooded, it said.

Restoring the mid-voltage grid was a pre-condition to restore supply to customers on the low-voltage grid with most towns now back online.

Focus was on the most impacted communities often in narrow valleys such as the Ahr region where flooding on July 15 destroyed much infrastructure including road, telecoms, water and energy networks.

There was currently no indication when services could be restored in some communities, it said.

Early indications showed that some damage in the most impacted communities may take months to fully repair with emergency measures such as back-up generators required to restore short-term supply.

The Dortmund-based company that was part of a asset swap between RWE to E.ON was supported by other E.ON DSOs with engineers and emergency appliances directed to the disaster region, it said.