Total failure of power supply (blackout) or extensive system failures are real phenomena (e.g. Italy, 2003) resulting in high economic losses, which sharply increase with duration of the blackout. Restoration of operation after an extensive system failure may be difficult. Usually, power plants initiate operation in that part of the network, which was not affected by the disorder. If power is not available on the entire network, it is necessary to restore operation by black start. This project was devoted to research possible utilisation of existing public energy sources in distribution systems in order to minimize duration of blackouts of final consumers, and, moreover, to provide support services for black starts to enable restart of the supply grid after failures.