Sabotage at substation in Brandenburg: explosive devices found near Jänschwalde
Homemade explosive devices were discovered at a substation in Turnow-Preilack. Interior Minister Redmann describes it as a sabotage attack.
Sabotage attack on Brandenburg's energy infrastructure
Google News LU DE reports that several unconventional incendiary and explosive devices were discovered at a substation in Turnow-Preilack in Spree-Neiße district, near the Jänschwalde coal-fired power plant. Police identified the incident on Tuesday at approximately 08:00, when a possible case of property damage to a line was reported.
Brandenburg's Interior Minister Jan Redmann (CDU) described the incident in the afternoon as a "sabotage attack". "The aim was to introduce conductive material into the high-voltage lines in order to provoke a short circuit and thereby cause a supply failure," Redmann explained. In two cases this succeeded, but in other cases it did not. A double-digit number of devices were secured on the premises. "The incident ended relatively mildly compared to what could have happened," the Minister said.
Minister President Dietmar Woidke (SPD) condemned the "attack attempt" and pointed to a concerning frequency of similar incidents. "The concerning high frequency of such incidents shows that we must decisively protect our infrastructures," Woidke said. Emergency responders and staff at the substation and power plant prevented worse consequences through swift action.
A spokeswoman for the Brandenburg Police Directorate in Potsdam confirmed that there had been at least one detonation. Not all discovered devices exploded. Bomb disposal experts were on site, and evidence was being secured. There was no danger to the public at any time. The Brandenburg State Criminal Police Office (LKA) has taken over the investigation.
The transmission system operator 50Hertz stated that "unknown perpetrators" had committed "alleged property damage to several lines in the transmission network" on Tuesday morning. There had been a "temporary line interruption," but all lines were now back in operation. General electricity supply was currently not affected. 50Hertz was working "closely with the responsible security authorities".
According to a later statement from 50Hertz, the means used were "homemade aircraft, similar to commercially available fireworks rockets". Additional devices that had not yet been launched were found on site. The Märkische Allgemeine had initially reported "rockets equipped with explosives" — the LKA explicitly contradicted this formulation to news agency Reuters: "We are not talking about rockets here."
Energy company Leag, which operates the Jänschwalde power plant, confirmed an attack on the substation, "through which electricity generated at Jänschwalde power plant is fed into the 50Hertz transmission network". Following the incident, a technical failure of Block B of the power plant occurred. According to information from WELT, the block shut down automatically through a safety measure; it has not been restarted since. The alleged target of the attack was a large-scale power failure at Block E of the power plant.
The Preilack substation serves the trans-regional and regional distribution of electricity generated at Jänschwalde. According to Leag, the power plant itself was built between 1976 and 1989 as the last new power plant construction of the GDR. Whether the incident caused specific material damage is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the LKA.
Source: Google News LU DE