A reinforced fence now surrounds the power pole that was the target of an arson attack in September 2025.
© dpa
The more than 70 substations operated by the Berlin electricity grid operator Stromnetz Berlin are now better protected against attacks.
They have been equipped with a 2.40-meter-high fence topped with barbed wire and are under video surveillance, the company announced. A total of 20 kilometers of fencing has been reinforced or newly erected in this manner.
The two power poles that were destroyed in an arson attack in Johannisthal last September, which resulted in a widespread power outage in the southeastern part of the capital, have also been secured accordingly. The reinforced fences are part of the security plan to protect critical infrastructure that the Senate Administration presented in May. This plan includes technical, organizational and physical measures.
Technical measures include enhanced video surveillance, including AI-supported systems, as well as the creation of so-called "georedundancies," that is, duplicate systems located far enough apart to prevent them from becoming the target of a single attack. Organizational measures refer to the improvement of existing crisis and emergency plans to enable a faster response in the event of a critical infrastructure failure. Specifically, this involves expanding the staffing capacity of security services and providing enhanced security patrols at critical locations. Fences, in turn, fall under physical security measures, which also include enhanced lighting and access control systems.
On September 9, 2025, a nighttime fire largely destroyed high-voltage power cables in southeast Berlin. A letter of claim posted online referred to an attack on the Adlershof Technology Park and the companies and research institutions located there in the fields of IT, robotics, biotechnology, nanotechnology, aerospace and the security and defense industries. At times, approximately 50,000 private households and about 2,000 businesses were affected. In January, there was another attack on Berlin’s power grid with significantly more severe consequences. A cable bridge over the Teltow Canal in Lichterfelde, in the southwest, was targeted. Tens of thousands of households were without power for days amid wintry temperatures. According to the grid operator, the attack resulted in the longest power outage in Berlin’s postwar history.