Power Grids: Mystery of 60-Second Fluctuations Solved

A brief fluctuation in grid frequency occurs every minute in the European power grid. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and their partners have now identified the cause of this previously unexplained phenomenon, which could potentially pose challenges for energy infrastructure: Large battery energy storage systems regularly check their state of charge, simultaneously creating short power peaks. The findings were published in Nature Energy.

Many Battery Storage Systems, One Shared Rhythm

“The battery storage systems’ status checks generate a brief power peak at the beginning of every minute,” says Professor Benjamin Schäfer from KIT’s Institute for Automation and Applied Informatics (IAI), one of the study’s authors. “When many devices perform their checks at the same time, what is normally a small effect adds up to a measurable fluctuation in the power grid.”

Together with their partners at the Forschungszentrum Jülich, the researchers also demonstrated that the phenomenon is not limited to Europe but occurs worldwide. As the use of large-scale battery storage systems continues to grow, its significance is likely to increase as well. In Ireland, for example, the amplitude of the one-minute signal quadrupled between 2016 and 2021.

The regular power fluctuations could lead to problems in energy infrastructure over time, emphasizes Dr. Richard Jumar of the IAI, who was also involved in the study. “Among other things, these fluctuations increase wear and tear on turbines in hydroelectric power plants.” However, the problem could be solved relatively easily: “If the devices performed their power status checks at staggered times rather than synchronously, the individual peaks could largely cancel each other out,” Jumar explains.

mhe, November 3, 2026