Imagine this: tens of thousands of residents in southwest Berlin were plunged into darkness, enduring not just a loss of electricity, but also heating and, in some cases, mobile service. This unprecedented situation unfolded following a suspected arson attack on January 3, which severely damaged high-voltage cables on a bridge that spans the Teltow Canal.
The power outage lingered for four agonizing days, marking the longest blackout in Berlin since World War II. The far-left group identifying themselves as the "Vulkangruppe" took responsibility for the attack through an online letter, prompting German authorities to investigate it as a potential case of arson and sabotage.
As the cold winter weather set in, frustration among residents escalated. During this time, various social media accounts and AI-generated videos began circulating alarming claims that the prolonged blackout was exacerbated by Germany's lack of emergency generators, supposedly because they had all been sent to aid Ukraine.
To get to the bottom of these claims, The Cube, Euronews’ fact-checking team, traced the origin of some of this misinformation back to a report by the Berliner Zeitung. This article stated that approximately 1,700 emergency generators had been dispatched to Ukraine via the German federal agency responsible for civil protection and disaster relief, known as THW. This claim soon found its way into numerous social media posts.
One particularly misleading post on X claimed Berlin’s Mayor Kai Wegner had stated, "All generators are in Ukraine now," while another Facebook post echoed similar sentiments with, "Unfortunately, all of the German THW's power generators are located in Ukraine!" Additionally, AI-generated videos on platforms like TikTok presented fabricated news reports where fake emergency responders claimed there weren't any generators available due to their deployment in Ukraine.
Interestingly, The Cube reached out to the Berliner Zeitung for a comment but did not receive a response.
Now, let's tackle the core question: Did Berlin really have a shortage of generators?
Statements from officials indicate that the assertions about Berlin’s lack of emergency power generators during the blackout are indeed misleading. In a press conference held on January 5, representatives from Germany's Interior Ministry clarified that emergency generators were accessible during this crisis and were utilized to support critical services such as hospitals, care facilities, and emergency shelters.
While it is true that Germany has sent around 1,700 emergency generators to Ukraine since the onset of Russia's full-scale invasion—aimed at bolstering Ukraine's energy infrastructure amid ongoing attacks—the Interior Ministry emphasized that these generators were specifically acquired for Ukraine and were not drawn from the THW’s domestic stockpile, which remained intact for emergencies at home.
So why did it take so long to resolve the blackout? Experts consulted by The Cube explained that simply having more emergency generators wouldn’t suffice to address the extensive damage inflicted on the grid infrastructure.
Herbert Saurugg, a specialist in blackouts and crisis readiness, noted that emergency generators play a limited role in the event of a significant grid failure. Their capacity is primarily to support essential functions. He elaborated that the length of the outage was directly tied to the scale and complexity of the damage, as multiple components were compromised simultaneously.
"This incident involved several crucial cables and various systems being affected," Saurugg explained. "Moreover, the need to connect two different designs further complicated matters, a process that typically requires weeks to complete."
Given all of this context, the four-day repair timeline was, in fact, accomplished remarkably quickly. According to Saurugg, "This required a remarkable feat of engineering to ensure that repairs were completed in the shortest possible timeframe under such challenging conditions."
Kai Strunz, a professor specializing in electric energy systems at the Technische Universität Berlin, confirmed that the attack caused severe physical destruction to the grid, damaging five high-voltage cables and necessitating extensive excavation work.
Adding to the challenge was the unusually cold winter, which created sub-zero temperatures that made repairs even more difficult. "The extensive damage combined with the extreme cold made working on the cables and their joints quite challenging," Strunz remarked.
Manuel Atug, the founder of AG Kritis—a group of independent security experts focused on enhancing the resilience of Germany's critical infrastructure—pointed out that emergency generators can't be connected to residential areas unless the necessary infrastructure is already in place. "You can connect businesses or homes to emergency generators if you have the appropriate connection points available," he said. "If those connections are lacking, it becomes a significant hurdle."
He further emphasized that merely having generators does not expedite repair efforts when the grid itself is compromised. "In this scenario, repairs cannot be hastened. Having generators in certain locations does not provide any assistance if the grid is damaged."
Despite these clarifications, many residents were left questioning how it was possible for such a vital part of Berlin’s energy infrastructure to be compromised by an attack. A significant portion of the community's ire was directed at the city’s mayor, who, reports indicated, was playing tennis during the major blackout.
