But since you brought up the 3 minute problem….

We know that the 21st Century grid will require more storage than the 20th Century grid did. Sounds like it’s time for Germany to start building storage. Hundreds of thousands of euros would be better spent on storage than on repairs.

But interruptions over 3 minutes are only a small part of the problem.

A strong increase in these short term interruptions has lately been criticised by the industry association for energy-intensive companies VIK, which claimed that 90% of all the interruptions affecting the industry were not recorded by BNetzA.

http://www.germanenergyblog.de/?p=10275

Sudden fluctuations in Germany’s power grid are causing major damage to a number of industrial companies. While many of them have responded by getting their own power generators and regulators to help minimize the risks, they warn that companies might be forced to leave if the government doesn’t deal with the issues fast.
…
A survey of members of the Association of German Industrial Energy Companies (VIK) revealed that the number of short interruptions to the German electricity grid has grown by 29 percent in the past three years. Over the same time period, the number of service failures has grown 31 percent, and almost half of those failures have led to production stoppages. Damages have ranged between €10,000 and hundreds of thousands of euros, according to company information.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/instability-in-power-grid-comes-at-high-cost-for-german-industry-a-850419.html

A 30% increase isn’t catastrophic, but you can’t claim increased reliability.