Blackout in Berlin: Power supply to be restored on Wednesday
Power supply in southwest Berlin is expected to be restored one day earlier than planned. The declaration of a major incident likely helped.
(Image: TATIANA GAZIZOVA/Shutterstock.com)
Following the arson attack on Berlin's power supply and the large-scale power outage in the southwest of the capital, all households and businesses are to receive power again today, Wednesday, from 11 a.m. – one day earlier than announced. This was first reported by RBB, citing unnamed sources “from the circle of the Senate Chancellery” reported and official statements have since been issued. According to the public broadcaster, the necessary repair work progressed faster than originally expected. The fact that governing mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) declared a major incident also helped.
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Before the power supply in the southwest of the capital was restored, people throughout the city were apparently urged via disaster warning to absolutely disconnect privately operated emergency power generators from the power grid beforehand to avoid damage. Short power interruptions may occur during restoration. It is unclear why the warning was sent out across all of Berlin. Even though the power outage is expected to end sooner than feared, it is the longest in Berlin's post-war history. However, there was already a blackout lasting around 60 hours in September, also after an arson attack.
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The power outage was triggered by an arson attack on a cable bridge in the Steglitz-Zehlendorf district, to which a left-wing extremist group claimed responsibility. Initially, 45,000 households and 2,200 companies were without power, about half of which could be reconnected. It was originally stated that the rest would have to wait until Thursday, but now it is going a bit faster. There has been criticism of how the incident was handled; for example, the founder and spokesperson of the Working Group for Critical Infrastructure (AG KRITIS) expressed surprise to heise online that the declaration of a major incident was even necessary to get a grip on “such a small situation.”
(mho)
