Possible drone attack on power substation near Bergheim – police securing evidence
Residents reported flashes of light and explosions near Bergheim near Cologne. Police are investigating a possible drone attack on the Amprion substation.
Attack on power grid: substation near Bergheim targeted
In the evening, a possible attack on a substation operated by energy company Amprion near Bergheim near Cologne was carried out, according to BILD. Residents observed sudden flashes of light and heard explosions – shortly afterwards, a helicopter is said to have circled over the site.
Initially, suspicion fell on the possibility that a service drone belonging to the power supplier had accidentally struck a high-voltage power line. However, as the night progressed, investigators spoke of a possible deliberate attack using one or more drones. Police cordoned off the site over a wide area and initiated evidence-gathering procedures – an adjacent maize field was also secured.
The operation was taken over late in the evening by the Essen Police Directorate, which is the competent regional police authority for attack scenarios. The closer Cologne Police Directorate currently lacks sufficient capacity, according to its own statement, as it is managing a camp of left-wing Rheinmetall protesters. Several riot police vehicles arrived during the night; furthermore, at least one police drone circled over the area. Authorities were initially unable to provide precise details about damage – evidence-gathering in the darkness proved difficult, it was said.
The incident occurred only a few hours after an attack using pyrotechnics on a substation in Brandenburg. According to BILD information, police there are treating it as deliberate sabotage of the power grid.
The affected substation is located a few hundred metres from the RWE Niederaußem brown coal power plant. Amprion is one of four transmission system operators in Germany and operates a high-voltage transmission network approximately 11,000 kilometres long that transports electricity from the North Sea to the Alps.
Source: BILD