In the early hours of September 9, unknown perpetrators carried out an arson attack on two high-voltage pylons in the Johannisthal district of Berlin's Treptow-Köpenick borough, causing a power outage lasting around 60 hours in the southeast of the capital and causing major damage, particularly in the Adlershof Technology Park. Suburban trains, trams, and traffic lights also failed.

From 5 a.m. onwards, 50,000 residential and commercial customers were without power

The two high-voltage pylons are the end pylons of overhead lines in the 110-kilovolt distribution network, where high voltage is conducted down the poles via cables and then forwarded to substations in the 10-kilovolt network via underground cables. The perpetrators had wrapped chains around the cables attached to the poles near the ground and set them on fire with gasoline. The responsible network operator, Stromnetz Berlin (210403), first learned of the fire at 3:30 a.m. The fire department was able to extinguish the fire after an hour, but could not prevent the cables from burning through and causing short circuits. As a result, around 50,000 households and commercial customers in Johannisthal, Bohnsdorf, Niederschöneweide, Grünau, Adlershof, Altglienicke, and surrounding districts were without power from 5:09 a.m.

The damage is expected to take until 2026 to repair completely

Initial technical measures enabled Stromnetz Berlin to restore power to 14,000 residential and commercial customers by 10:21 a.m. and to reconnect another 3,000 customers to the grid by 4:28 p.m. By late evening, only just under half of those affected were still without power. By 8 p.m. the following day, only 13,700 customers were still without power. However, a newly constructed connection line suddenly failed again, disconnecting around 6,100 households and 200 commercial customers in Adlershof, Alt-Glienicke, Köpenick, and Niederschönweide from the power grid. It was not until 4:37 p.m. on September 11 – around 60 hours after the power outage began – that the fault was repaired throughout the entire supply area. However, this was only a temporary fix, as the fundamental repair of the entire damage is likely to drag on into the coming year.

The perpetrators describe the Adlershof Technology Park as a “military-industrial complex”

The perpetrators included this photo of already damaged three-phase power lines on one of the pylons with their letter of confession to authenticate its authenticity.

Under the headline “Attack on the military-industrial complex – blackout in Europe's largest technology park", the extreme left-wing internet platform “indymedia.org” published a letter of confession at 2:20 p.m. The text was similar in tone to the letter in which the “Vulkangruppe Tesla abschalten” (Tesla Shutdown Volcano Group) claimed responsibility for the arson attack on a high-voltage power line south of Berlin in March last year (240302). This time, however, the anonymous senders described themselves as “some anarchists".

According to the letter, the perpetrators wanted to target the Adlershof Technology Park, which they accuse of being an industrial and research site used for military purposes. They claim that the power outage, which affected tens of thousands of “residents” in several other districts, was not intentional. However, they said this was acceptable collateral damage, "in contrast to the actual destruction of nature and the often deadly subjugation of people, for which many of the companies based here are responsible day in and day out".

According to Berlin's Tagesspiegel newspaper (Nov. 12), investigators believe the letter claiming responsibility is genuine. However, they find it somewhat “strange” that the sender is listed as “some anarchists". Unlike the Tesla factory in Grünheide, there have been no peaceful demonstrations or other protests against the Adlershof technology and media hub that could have served as a reason for the perpetrators to allegedly support them with criminal acts of sabotage.

The demonization of the site as an armaments center may even have been the main purpose of the attack

The technology and media park that was established in Adlershof after reunification was actually considered a model for successful “rebuilding of the East.” Its demonization as a supposedly highly dangerous “military-industrial complex” only occurred recently in order to justify the attack on Berlin's power supply. It could therefore even be that this was the main purpose of the attack.

The perpetrators can exploit the fact that the more than 1,300 companies and research institutions in the technology park include those that develop so-called dual-use products, which can be used for both civilian and military purposes. They name the companies Atos, Astrial, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Edag, Eurovia/Vinci, Jenoptik, Rhode & Schwarz, Siemens, and Trumpf. These companies are “exemplary of the unspeakable entanglement of research, science, and technology with war, environmental destruction, and social control.”

The attack would also fit in well with the Putin regime's “hybrid warfare”

The sudden demonization of the Adlershof Technology Park as a “military-industrial complex” would also fit in well with the Putin regime's increasingly widespread “hybrid warfare,” in which locals are often used as “disposable agents.” Investigators will therefore now have to examine whether and to what extent the Russian secret service may have been involved in this attack on the German power grid or even initiated it. However, it is hardly conceivable that the rambling, convoluted and fervently written letter of confession could have come from the Moscow poison kitchen. This gibberish sounds about as authentic as the effusions of similarly confused minds, from the former terror of the “RAF” to the attacks by the “Vulkangruppen” over the past seven years. It is also unlikely that emissaries of the Kremlin carried out the attack. However, it is quite possible that Putin's secret service agents provided discreet assistance in selecting the target of the attack, as well as in its practical execution and subsequent justification. After all, it is not so easy to find the right power poles in the Johannisthal district and set them on fire with a guaranteed short circuit so that the power goes out in the Adlershof district.

Restoring power took the longest in the Adlershof area network

The companies and other consumers on the 4.6-square-kilometer site of the Adlershof Technology Park were among the last to have their power restored sixty hours after the blackout on September 11. This is a so-called local grid, whose substation in Wegedornstraße is supplied with 110 kilovolts by the municipal distribution network operator Stromnetz Berlin, but is otherwise operated by Energienetze Berlin GmbH (ENB) at all downstream voltage levels. ENB also owns smaller distribution networks at six other locations in Berlin. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Blockheizkraftwerks-Träger und Betreibergesellschaft mbh Berlin (BTB), which has been included in E.ON's consolidated financial statements since April 2020. ENB and BTB previously belonged to the RWE Group. The change of ownership took place in the course of the commercial demarcation and division of the German electricity market, which was agreed seven years ago between the two energy companies RWE and E.ON (180301).

Links (internal)

• Arson attack on high-voltage pylon paralyzed Tesla factory (240302)
• Power outage in Berlin lasted 31 hours (190212)
• Arson attack on medium-voltage cable in Berlin (180315)

• <List of links to power outages (domestic)
• <Listwe of links to energy supply in Berlin