Enlarge image

Tesla factory in Grünheide: Back on the grid

Photo: Odd Andersen / AFP

After an attack on the power supply at the car manufacturer Tesla in Grünheide last Tuesday, the Gigafactory is back online.

The repair work was completed significantly earlier than initially expected, as the responsible network operator Edis announced.

Tesla had previously expected production to stop until the end of the week due to the power outage.

A week ago, unknown perpetrators set fire to a freely accessible electricity pylon in a field, which is also responsible for supplying the Tesla factory.

Production at the car factory came to a standstill.

The left-wing extremist “Vulkan Group” had declared that it was responsible for the attack.

Debate about better protection for energy networks breaks out

According to the energy supplier Edis, the decisive switching took place in the network control center at 8:45 p.m.

Both Tesla and the logistics center are back online.

Since then, “supply has been restored,” it said in a statement.

The result of a high-voltage measurement was crucial for the resupply.

The attack on a freely accessible electricity pylon, which also supplies the car factory, triggered a broad debate about better protection for energy networks in Germany.

Last Tuesday, Tesla factory manager André Thierig estimated the damage at hundreds of millions of euros.

At that point he only expected a failure until around Sunday.

After the arson attack, environmental activists demonstrated again in Grünheide against the electric car manufacturer's expansion plans.

They spoke out against the planned expansion of the Tesla factory.

The electric car manufacturer wants to build a freight yard, warehouses and a company kindergarten in addition to the existing 300-hectare factory site.

To achieve this, more than 100 hectares of forest will be cleared.

At the same time, residents of Grünheide also expressed their solidarity with Tesla: “We welcome its presence and strive for close cooperation in order to achieve common goals.

An attack on Tesla is an attack on us," said the organizers.

"The recent attacks represent a threat to our values ​​and our cohesion and our community."

eru/dpa