The chief executive of the German energy company E.ON has warned of potential attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure.
“The most attractive target is the extra-high-voltage grid operated by transmission system operators and E.ON’s 110,000-volt network,” Leonhard Birnbaum said on Wednesday, while presenting the company’s half-yearly report.
Birnbaum called for improvements to security measures. While he believes the state has a duty to act, he said the idea of complete protection is “illusory.”
“We are currently unable to secure the airports in Germany. How could I possibly tell you that we have all our many hundreds of distributed distribution network points under control? That is, of course, not the case,” said Birnbaum.
Last week, a drone equipped with explosives and a detonator was discovered at Leipzig/Halle Airport.
“E.ON has been working for years to improve the physical security of its facilities,” Birnbaum said. However, he added that progress in drone technology is so rapid and extensive that complete protection cannot currently be guaranteed.
“We will make our contribution to this government responsibility, but we cannot take over if the state is unable to guarantee it.”
“We can ensure that it is not easy, but we cannot guarantee that it is impossible to attack us.” Furthermore, he said it was important to be prepared to restore the power supply quickly in the event of a successful attack.
E.ON is Germany’s largest electricity supplier and grid operator. The group has around 12 million electricity customers and 2 million natural gas customers in its home market. With around 700,000 kilometres of power lines, almost a third of Germany’s electricity distribution network belongs to the group.