Explosive devices at high-voltage lines near Jänschwalde – State police launch investigation
Home-made explosive devices were discovered at the Turnow-Preilack transformer station in Brandenburg. Minister President Woidke describes the incident as an attempted attack on the power supply.
Attempted attack on electricity grid in Brandenburg: home-made projectiles on high-voltage line
Home-made explosive devices were found at the Turnow-Preilack transformer station in Brandenburg in the early morning hours. According to Tagesschau, Minister President Dietmar Woidke has described the incident as an "attempted attack" on the power supply. The background remains unclear, and the Brandenburg State Criminal Police Office (LKA) has taken over the investigation.
At around 8.00 a.m., police identified possible property damage to a line. According to rbb reporter Jörg Poppendieck, who reported on location for tagesschau24, the attack was not directed at the transformer station itself, but at high-voltage lines. When asked about a suspected attack, a police spokesperson said: "The investigation will have to show that."
The transformer station distributes electricity generated at the Jänschwalde coal-fired power station across the region and beyond. Transmission system operator 50Hertz stated: "According to available information, the attempted property damage was caused by home-made projectiles similar to commercially available fireworks." Additional projectiles that had not yet been launched were found on site.
According to Poppendieck, it was apparently not intended "to explode something into the air". The aim appears to have been to trigger a short circuit – possibly by firing a wire into the high-voltage lines. However, an LKA spokesperson contradicted reports that the projectiles were equipped with explosives: "We are not talking about rockets here."
The power plant operator LEAG also confirmed an attempted attack. A spokesperson stated that an attack on the transformer station had been carried out in the morning, "through which the electricity generated at the Jänschwalde power plant is fed into the transmission network of 50Hertz". As a result, a technical failure occurred in Block B of the power plant. A connection is being investigated. According to 50Hertz, general power supply was not affected at any time, and there were no effects on the population.
The transformer station near the border with Saxony was cordoned off over a wide area, and bomb disposal experts attended. Initially, investigators spoke of an "unconventional explosive and incendiary device", later of small, home-made explosive devices.
Minister President Woidke, SPD, pointed to the "alarmingly high frequency" of such incidents and stated that "we must resolutely protect our infrastructure". The current incident is part of a series of attacks on energy infrastructure: In January, allegedly far-left perpetrators set fire to and short-circuited high-voltage lines near a power plant in south-west Berlin, leaving approximately 45,000 households as well as more than 2,200 businesses, hospitals and care homes without power for days. In March 2024, a group set fire to a electricity pylon that supplies, among other things, the Tesla factory in Grünheide near Berlin. According to investigators, it remains unclear whether there is any connection between these incidents and the current events.
Source: Tagesschau