German police investigate possible sabotage in two power substation incidents
Authorities are probing explosive devices at a Brandenburg substation and a deliberate short circuit at a Cologne-area substation, considering sabotage, foreign involvement or left-wing extremism, with one case also examined for terrorism links.
German police are investigating two separate incidents that disrupted power distribution in the east and west of the country. On Tuesday morning, investigators found multiple explosive devices at a substation near the Jänschwalde coal-fired power plant in Brandenburg. Later that day, a short circuit deliberately knocked out lines at the Bergheim substation near Cologne.
Neither event caused a broader outage, but officials said the attacks targeted critical infrastructure. The Brandenburg police opened a probe into a suspected terrorist organization linked to the explosion, while the North Rhine-Westphalia interior minister said the Bergheim incident was an intentional criminal act. Both investigations are considering possible foreign involvement or left-wing extremist motives.
The explosives were described as rocket-like objects with propellant charges, similar to fireworks, and more than a dozen were recovered, though only one succeeded in creating a conductive link to a high-voltage line. At Bergheim, investigators found six launch devices in a nearby field, which they believe were intended to lift a wire onto the power lines to cause a short circuit.
RWE, which operates the Bergheim substation, temporarily took five coal-fired units offline, totaling 4,200 megawatts, but two units were back in operation by Wednesday afternoon and the remaining units were expected to be restored by the weekend. Security officials from both regions are coordinating to determine whether the two incidents are connected.
The incidents come amid heightened alert after German authorities blamed Russia for a recent drone attack on Leipzig/Halle Airport.