Fire at Mitte substation necessitates substantial repair works

27.04.2017

In the early afternoon of yesterday, a fire started in a cable cellar at Mitte substation near Potsdamer Straße.

In the early afternoon of yesterday, a fire started in a cable cellar at Mitte substation near Potsdamer Straße. As a result, around 95,000 households in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and Tempelhof-Schöneberg districts lost power for nearly 20 minutes. The power outage began at 13:07. By 13:24 the supply to all households had been restored.

The fire at Mitte substation was fully extinguished the same afternoon. Immediately after firefighters reopened the site of the fire, Stromnetz experts started to inspect the damage and investigate the effects on other parts of the plant.

During the investigation, they noted damages necessitating comprehensive renovation work. The damaged cables included high-voltage cables which supply the area around Potsdamer Platz. The focus of the repair works, which started yesterday evening, was on preserving a continued stable supply of electricity to Potsdamer Platz and on protecting the area with a reserve route. The construction and assembly works now required will take around four days. Particularly sensitive connected customers such as hospitals, ministries and embassies were informed yesterday evening.