Generators, transformers and the winter the grid was attacked

From October 2022 the energy system came under sustained attack, and the country learned a new vocabulary: scheduled outage, stabilisation outage, autotransformer.

The response was physical. High-voltage autotransformers and switchgear — equipment with lead times measured in months in normal conditions — were released from European utilities own reserves and moved by road. Thousands of generators arrived through the EU civil protection stockpile and from national donations. An energy support fund administered through the Energy Community channelled money for equipment and repair.

What made the difference

Two things. First, the March synchronisation: a grid connected to Europe can import emergency power when its own generation is down, which a grid in island mode cannot. Second, the repair crews, who worked in conditions I will not attempt to describe and restored supply again and again.

I ran a business through that winter on a generator and a schedule. Everyone did. The lights went off, and every time they came back on.