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Grid Frequency Report 01-2026

Welcome to the new format of reporting of the data acquired with the PQopen measurement network.

Summary

In the summary, the 1s-mean value of the mains frequency is evaluated.

StatisticsValue and occurance
MIN49.8814 Hz (2026-01 00:01 CET)
1% Percentile49.9533 Hz
MEAN50.0005 Hz (~27 seconds fast)
99% Percentile50.0461 Hz
MAX50.1488 Hz in AT/Graz (2026-01-31 09:54 CET)
50.1526 Hz in ES/Pamplona

Daily Mean

The daily mean can give you an overview of the „accuracy“ of the grid control and their effect on grid synchronized clocks. Until the event on 31st of January, the average was 50.0000 Hz but resulted in whole January mean of 50.0005 Hz which can be also written as 27 seconds fast of time.

Frequency Spread

In this graph, I want to show the frequency spread (max-min in 15min intervals) for visualising common patterns. As long known, the most frequency span are in the morning hours, at the evening and around midnight, mostly due to market impact.

Rate of Change of Frequency (ROCOF)

The ROCOF is an indicator for potential events and the steadiness of the frequency. The higher the value, the more disturbances are at work (oscillations, transients…).

ROCOF of AT/Graz: Most of the time between +-5mHz/s with some significant outlier since middle of the month.
Histogramm of the ROCOF from AT/Graz (green) and ES/Pamplona (yellow) in comparison. One can see, the distribution is much wider in Spain than in middle Europe, which is a result of the more significant inter-area oscillations.

Inter-Area oscillations

The inter-area oscillations is a long-known phenomenon resulting from the wide area of interconnected countries. In Spain, two modes can be detected, the east-center-west and the east-west mode.

Power spectrum density (PSD) of the measurement location ES/Pamplona.

There was a change in characteristics on the 26th of January. Both modes rose in magnitude and the east-center-west mode dropped in frequency. An explanation can be found in the power flow in Spain.

Power flows from and to Spain. Since 26th of January, there is an almost continuous power flow from Portugal to Spain and exporting to France (source: energy-charts.info).

Events

Below, there are several graphs, each representing a detailed time series plot of cycle-by-cycle frequency as well as 10-cycle moving average, phase angle difference and voltage magnitude.

2026-01-01 11:22:45 (UTC): Short circuit (2x) in northern Germany (DE/Stade)
2026-01-01 13:08:57 (UTC): Short frequency oscillation in northern Germany, maybe result of switching operation or loss of load.
2026-01-03 05:13:06 (UTC): Short circuit in Berlin due to attacking of a cable bridge resulting in multi-day blackout in the district.
2026-01-13 08:48:50 (UTC): Switching operation in eastern Europe
2026-01-22 11:28:00 (UTC): Short event in northern Germany. Looks like loosing a load for less then 1s (or power infeed).
2026-01-23 03:10:48 (UTC): Short circuit resulting in loss of generation in Spain
2026-01-23 13:31:49 (UTC): Similar to the previous event. Short circuit (voltage dip) leading to loss of generation.
2026-01-24 04:13:00 (UTC): Loss of load in eastern Europe
2026-01-25 03:46:54 (UTC): Repeated short circuit in Spain with massive loss of load, similar to 2026-01-23 events)
2026-01-26 07:31:10 (UTC): Switching operation in Spain with significant oscillation in voltage as well.
2026-01-31 08:46:40 (UTC): Emergency shutdown in Ukraine leading to a cascade of events and increasing frequency.

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