Volcano Group Claims Sabotage of Berlin Gas-Fired Power Plant Causing Widespread Blackout
Source: Reuters
Executive Summary
An anarchist environmental extremist group known as the Volcano Group claimed responsibility for the sabotage of a gas-fired power plant and associated high-voltage infrastructure in Berlin-Lichterfelde in early January 2026, causing prolonged power outages across southwest Berlin. The group framed the attack as an act of climate “self-defense,” explicitly advocating sabotage of fossil fuel and energy infrastructure as a repeatable tactic. Open source reporting from German and international media confirms the blackout affected tens of thousands of households, hospitals, care facilities, schools, and public transport, prompting a federal-level criminal investigation and renewed concern over the vulnerability of critical infrastructure.
Analysis
The Volcano Group’s statement represents one of the most detailed and ideologically explicit justifications for infrastructure sabotage seen in Germany in recent years, combining climate extremism, anti-capitalist rhetoric, and operational detail intended to inspire replication.
The group claimed it set fire to a cable bridge carrying high-voltage lines connected to the Lichterfelde gas-fired power plant and then short-circuited multiple 110 kV lines using metal stakes, deliberately targeting grid infrastructure rather than end users.
The attack caused power outages affecting approximately 45,000 to 50,000 households, nearly 2,000 businesses, hospitals, care homes, schools, and sections of Berlin’s transport network, according to reporting by The Guardian and German authorities.
The group explicitly called for further sabotage of power grids, fossil fuel infrastructure, data centers, automotive and arms industries, and smart city systems, framing such actions as globally applicable and morally justified.
The group’s messaging seeks to normalize infrastructure sabotage as socially beneficial while downplaying or disclaiming harm to civilians, even as real-world impacts included risks to vulnerable populations and emergency services. The detailed operational descriptions, ideological framing, and international call to action increase the risk of copycat attacks by aligned eco-anarchist or climate extremist actors. German officials and infrastructure experts cited in media reporting have acknowledged that publicly available infrastructure information and insufficient redundancy contributed to the scale of the disruption, reinforcing the group’s stated objective of exposing systemic vulnerabilities.
