German police investigate second suspected power grid sabotage attempt

Bergheim, Germany. German police on Wednesday were investigating a second suspected sabotage attempt on the electricity grid within 24 hours, following an incident at a power substation near the western city of Bergheim.

Substation investigation

Local police said they were investigating an act of premeditated vandalism targeting the technical infrastructure of a power substation near Bergheim at 1800 GMT on Tuesday.

A police spokesperson declined to specify the damage but said the region’s electricity supply was not affected.

Grid operator Amprion, which is majority-owned by Germany’s largest power producer RWE, said external interference was likely to have caused the incident. It said electricity supply and grid stability were maintained throughout.

RWE said five lignite power plant units with a combined capacity of 4,200 megawatts went off the grid following the incident. One affected unit with 600 megawatts of capacity has since been reconnected.

Second incident and security concerns

Also on Tuesday, devices containing conductive material damaged power lines at one of the most critical high-voltage nodes in the eastern state of Brandenburg.

The incidents came a day after Berlin said it had concluded that Russia was behind an attempted drone attack on a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig/Halle airport last month.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday that the airport incident bore all the hallmarks of state-sponsored terrorism. Moscow said there was no evidence to support accusations that it was behind the attack.

German authorities are on high alert for attacks on vital infrastructure amid concerns about hybrid warfare. The incidents also come ahead of a state election this weekend, with the far-right Alternative for Germany, which supports closer ties with Moscow, leading opinion polls.