German authorities are investigating two separate incidents at power substations as potential acts of sabotage. The investigations come as the country remains on high alert following an alleged drone attack attributed to Russia.
On Tuesday morning, multiple explosive devices were discovered at a substation near the Jänschwalde coal-fired power plant in Brandenburg, northeastern Germany. While these devices caused short circuits, they did not result in a widespread power outage. The same evening, a short circuit at the Bergheim power substation near Cologne in western Germany, which caused several power lines to go out of service, is also being treated as a deliberate act, according to police.
"Based on the current state of the investigation, we are not assuming a technical defect, but rather a deliberate act, a crime," the Essen police stated regarding the Cologne incident, as reported by the German press agency dpa. RWE, a company that operates coal power plants connected to the Bergheim substation, reported that five coal-fired units with a combined capacity of 4,200 megawatts were taken offline. These units are expected to be operational again by the weekend.
These events follow a previous incident in January when suspected left-wing extremists allegedly set fire to high-voltage lines near a power plant in southwest Berlin. German officials recently blamed Russia for an attempted drone attack carrying explosives at Leipzig/Halle Airport on August 4.
Brandenburg Interior Minister Jan Redmann indicated that foreign involvement cannot be ruled out in the Jänschwalde incident. "This is a hybrid threat we are currently experiencing, and therefore we cannot rule out the possibility that foreign powers are behind it," Redmann told German media, according to dpa.