BERLIN, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Production at the German Gigafactory of U.S. electric car manufacturer Tesla has been halted after a suspected arson attack, which led to a power outage.
The Brandenburg Ministry of the Interior and for Municipal Affairs said that on Tuesday morning, unknown perpetrators deliberately set fire to a high-voltage pylon at the factory in Gruenheide, near Berlin. As a result, nearby villages and the Tesla plant were cut off from the power supply.
The so-called "Vulkangruppe" left-wing extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack as a protest against the U.S. carmaker, the German press agency dpa reported. "We sabotaged Tesla today," the group announced in a letter.
According to Tesla, measures have been taken to safeguard the production facilities. After consultation with the electricity provider Edis, Tesla does not expect production to restart quickly, according to dpa.
"If the initial findings are confirmed, this is a perfidious attack on our electricity infrastructure. This will have consequences," said Brandenburg's Interior Minister Michael Stuebgen. "Thousands of people have been cut off from their basic supply and put in danger."
"We now need to concentrate all our efforts on solving the incident," Stuebgen stressed. The State Office of Criminal Investigation is looking into the attack.
Despite considerable resistance from environmentalists and local residents, Tesla is seeking to expand its Gigafactory in Gruenheide, which began operating two years ago. Tesla aims to double production from the current interim target of 500,000 cars per year to one million.
There were already reports last week that Tesla could be forced to halt production due to its excessive emissions of water-polluting substances.
Tesla has been continuously discharging excess phosphorus and nitrogen into the wastewater system, exceeding limits by up to six times, according to local water authority Strausberg-Erkner Water Association (WSE).
Since last Thursday, around 80 environmental activists have been occupying part of the forest near the Tesla factory, and have erected tree houses to demonstrate against the planned expansion of the site. ■
