The topic of emergency power is as topical in Germany as rarely before. Not because the power supply has suddenly become unreliable – on the contrary: the German grid remains one of the most reliable in Europe. The Federal Network Agency reported an average unavailability of only 11.7 minutes per end consumer for 2024, down from 12.8 minutes in 2023.
Nevertheless, the importance of emergency power is growing. The reason lies not in constant grid failures, but in the increasing dependence on electricity: buildings, IT, telecommunications, heating, cooling, water technology, logistics, and production are more interconnected today than ever before. The BBK also points this out. Even relatively rare but prolonged power outages can have significantly greater effects today than just a few years ago.
Why the topic of emergency power is gaining importance nonetheless
Although Germany generally has a very stable power supply, current events clearly show why the issue of emergency power is taken more seriously today than it was a few years ago. It is not only how often a power outage occurs that matters, but what consequences it has in a specific case. Especially in a highly electrified and digitized society, even a few hours of downtime are enough to cause significant effects on traffic, communication, heating, production, cooling, and public safety.
A particularly clear example was the major power outage in Spain and Portugal on April 28, 2025. According to ACER, a widespread blackout occurred on the Iberian Peninsula shortly after 12:30 PM CEST, affecting Spain and Portugal, and briefly also border areas in France. The supply had to be gradually restored, partly by hydropower plants and partly via connections to France and Morocco. The Portuguese government later referred to a European report that identified a sequence of technical failures in Spain related to insufficient voltage as the cause and at the same time made numerous recommendations to increase resilience. Such events clearly show that a power outage does not just mean "lights out," but can quickly affect telecommunications, logistics, traffic flows, and critical services. The European Parliament also addressed the effects of the event, pointing to massive disruptions in mobile communications, transport, and infrastructure.
A second example, particularly tangible for Germany, was the power outage in southwestern Berlin at the beginning of January 2026. According to the official Berlin press release, on January 3, 2026, after a fire on a cable bridge over the Teltow Canal, 45,400 households and 2,200 commercial customers in Nikolassee, Zehlendorf, Wannsee, and Lichterfelde were affected. For a large portion of the connections, repair times were expected to last until January 8, 2026. Additionally, district heating supply was also affected because the pumps could not reliably transport heat to the connected buildings without electricity. Exactly such cases show how quickly a power outage extends to other technical systems: not only electricity fails, but in an unfavorable case, heating, elevators, communication channels, and operational processes also fail. This is also confirmed by the high workload of the Berlin fire department during this situation.
These examples clarify why emergency power in Germany today is not just a topic for hospitals or data centers. Commercial businesses, agricultural enterprises, technical buildings, cooling applications, heating systems, and municipal facilities must increasingly ask themselves what consequences even a multi-hour or multi-day power outage would have for their own operations – and whether these damages would ultimately not be significantly more expensive than a robust emergency power solution.
The Situation in Germany: High Supply Security, but More Need for Preparedness
From the perspective of public supply, Germany remains well-positioned. The official key figures from the Federal Network Agency show no negative trend in long-term interruptions; in 2024, the SAIDI value was even below the ten-year average. At the same time, the BBK and the federal government emphasize that the vulnerability of modern infrastructures is increasing – due to digitalization, cyberattacks, complex supply chains, and extreme weather events, among other things.
For companies and operators of critical processes, this means that the topic of emergency power is no longer discussed merely as "blackout fear," but increasingly as part of resilience, crisis preparedness, and operational risk management. Official guidelines and regulatory requirements have also evolved in this direction.
There is no general emergency power obligation in Germany
It is important to clarify: even at the beginning of April 2026, there is no general legal obligation in Germany for every company or building to maintain an emergency power supply. The BBK clearly states that binding regulations only exist in a few areas, such as in individual parts of the healthcare sector or in livestock farms. In many other areas, there is no blanket obligation, but rather a combination of industry-specific requirements, operator responsibility, and economic necessity.
This is precisely a key point in the current discussion: emergency power is not mandatory everywhere, but in many places it is becoming increasingly important. Anyone who needs to secure cold chains, must not interrupt digital processes, or works in critical supply and production processes takes the issue much more seriously today than a few years ago. This development can be observed both in the KRITIS environment and in SMEs.
New Technical Direction: Away from Pure Diesel Generators, Towards Hybrid Concepts
One of the most important technical developments is the change in the emergency power concept itself. The BBK updated its guideline "Emergency Power Supply in Companies and Public Authorities" in 2024, for the first time taking into account alternative energy sources and storage more strongly. The revised version explicitly considers not only classic diesel generators but also battery storage, renewable energy sources, and other technical concepts. The revision was carried out jointly with DKE in VDE.
This is very relevant for the market. The direction is clear: emergency power in Germany is increasingly understood not just as a single generator, but as a system solution. In practice, this more often means:
- Grid separation and clean switching,
- Generator as a secured long-term reserve,
- Battery storage for peak loads and short outages,
- PV as a supplementary energy source, if applicable,
- Intelligent prioritization of truly critical consumers.
This development is particularly interesting for commercial enterprises, municipalities, agriculture, technical buildings, and demanding private customers.
72 hours remain the important benchmark
A central guideline in Germany remains the 72-hour rule. The BBK recommends designing emergency power systems so that operation is possible for at least 72 hours without external fuel supply. This value repeatedly appears in both the current BBK technical information and in planning documents for power outages.
These 72 hours are not a random figure. They are considered a realistic buffer to organize supplies, logistics, and further measures in the event of longer disruptions. At the same time, the BBK emphasizes that longer designs may be necessary in particularly critical areas. For practical purposes, this means that anyone planning an emergency power concept today should not only look at the output in kVA or kW, but also at runtime, fuel storage, refueling, and maintenance.
More regulation through NIS-2 – also indirectly relevant for emergency power
Another important development is the implementation of the NIS-2 Directive in Germany. According to the federal government, the German implementing law came into force on December 6, 2025. This means that significantly more companies and institutions are subject to stricter requirements for cybersecurity, reporting obligations, and organizational protection measures. This particularly affects central supply areas such as energy, infrastructure, healthcare, and other essential facilities.
Although NIS-2 is not a classic "emergency power law," its practical effect is nevertheless clear: anyone who has to deal with business continuity, operational reliability, and crisis response can hardly avoid the issue of power supply and emergency power capability. The more digital processes become, the more important a secure energy supply becomes in a crisis – also as a prerequisite for IT security measures, communication, and responsiveness to function at all.
The BBK now takes a much broader view of emergency power
It is also striking that the BBK now approaches the topic more broadly than before. The current technical pages not only feature classic publications on emergency power supply but also publications on self-sufficient emergency power supply for the population, fuel supply during power outages, and the use of renewable energy systems and storage for mobile and stationary emergency power supply. This clearly shows where the topic is heading: emergency power is no longer seen merely as an operational tool for authorities or large NEAs, but as a societal resilience issue.
For companies, this is an important signal. The public discussion is shifting from "Do I even need emergency power?" to "How robust is my energy supply if the grid, IT, or logistics are disrupted simultaneously?" This is a significant technical difference – and precisely why the relevance of well-planned emergency power and hybrid solutions is increasing.
What does this mean for companies and operators in concrete terms?
As of April 2026, the topic of emergency power in Germany can be summarized as follows:
First: The public power supply remains very reliable. An emergency power concept is therefore not important because daily life in Germany would be constantly characterized by power outages.
Second: The consequences of a prolonged outage would be significantly more severe today than before, because dependencies on IT, communication, cooling, water, heating, and production have greatly increased.
Third: Binding regulations exist only in selected areas. For many other companies, the need arises not from a blanket obligation, but from risk, liability, delivery obligations, and economic rationality.
Fourth: Technically, the development is clearly moving towards hybrid, intelligent, and application-specific solutions. This means no longer just "a generator somewhere in the yard," but coordinated systems with switching, load management, storage, and possibly renewable sources.
Conclusion
The situation regarding emergency power in Germany at the beginning of April 2026 is contradictory only at first glance: the grid is stable, yet the topic has become more pressing. Not because of a permanent supply problem, but because electricity is now the foundation of almost all critical processes. At the same time, guidelines have been modernized, hybrid concepts have been technically upgraded, and NIS-2 has tightened the requirements for resilience and security organization for many facilities.
For companies, municipalities, agricultural businesses, and operators of critical technology, this means: those who deal with emergency power today no longer only think of the classic diesel generator. Robust overall concepts are needed – technically sound, realistically dimensioned, and suitable for the actual application.