Power grid: Repeated attacks on substations, what is happening?

A suspicious object found near a substation in Dormagen has added to a string of alarms over suspected attacks on Germany’s electricity network. Police are investigating the object as a possible act of sabotage and said it may be a suspicious launch device.

The latest incidents have focused attention on North Rhine-Westphalia. Police searched the area around the Weisweiler power plant near Aachen and a substation in Eschweiler after claim letters identified Weisweiler as another alleged target. According to information obtained by dpa, both letters came from a man in Gevelsberg near Hagen, who claimed responsibility for recent attacks on the energy network in Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia.

In Lower Saxony, an open control cabinet at a substation in Ganderkesee, in the Oldenburg district, also caused concern. Police arrived with a helicopter and dogs, but it initially remained unclear why the maintenance cabinet had been left open or whether a crime was involved.

“

There is currently less to suggest a foreign state. There is quite a lot to suggest that it is a lone perpetrator. But it could also be a group that is involved. So we will wait calmly.

Earlier in the week, unidentified people targeted the power supply near the Turnow-Preilack substation in Brandenburg, close to the Jänschwalde power plant. An outage later occurred at a substation in Bergheim near Cologne. Authorities found launch devices and pyrotechnics near both locations, including more than 20 rockets in Brandenburg. Investigators are treating the cases as constitutionally hostile sabotage.

The identity and motive of those responsible remain uncertain. A spokesman for Germany’s Interior Ministry said there was an expectation that such incidents could increase as elections approach in several states. North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul said the evidence currently pointed less toward a foreign state and more toward a possible lone perpetrator, while acknowledging that a group could also be involved. Police are searching across Europe for the 48-year-old alleged author of the claim letters and raided his family’s home in Gevelsberg.

“

There is an expectation that this could increase.