German police report sabotage attack on power grid near Cologne

An electric substation near Cologne was the target of a sabotage attack, police said Wednesday.

“Based on the current state of the investigation, we do not believe this was a technical malfunction, but rather a deliberate act— a criminal offense,” a police spokesperson for the western city of Essen told the German Press Agency.

The cause and circumstances of the incident in the Rhein-Erft district remain unclear. The investigation is in full swing.

According to the spokesperson, the police were called to the substation in the Rheidt district of Bergheim around 8 pm local time (1800GMT) on Tuesday evening due to a technical malfunction.

A short circuit caused several power lines to fail. Based on current information, there was no outage of the general power supply.

• Energy provider confirms incident

The facility belongs to the energy provider Amprion, which confirmed the incident.

“An incident occurred on Tuesday evening in the vicinity of Amprion’s Rommerskirchen substation in the Rhineland that affected the operation of power plant feeders,” the company stated early Wednesday morning. This reportedly led to equipment failures at RWE Power.

The Dortmund-based company added: “The general power supply was not affected at any time, and system stability was always ensured.”

Experts from Amprion are working with the relevant safety authorities to clarify the facts as quickly as possible and assess the impact.

The latest incident comes only a day after a sabotage attack on an electrical facility at a major power plant in the eastern state of Brandenburg.

• Explosion at Augsburg station

Meanwhile, at least two people sustained minor blast injuries in an explosion at a train station in the southern city of Augsburg on Wednesday.

The station building and Track 1 were closed, while trains were rerouted and local public transportation was disrupted.

Several windowpanes were also damaged.

Explosives experts from the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office were dispatched to the scene. The cause of the explosion remains unknown.

• Suspected sabotage at Brandenburg power plant

The incidents came after unidentified suspects carried out a sabotage attack on an electrical facility at a major power plant in the eastern state of Brandenburg on Tuesday, according to authorities.

Brandenburg Interior Minister Jan Redmann said the suspects used projectile devices to cause a short circuit in an extra-high-voltage line near the Jaenschwalde power plant.

“We cannot currently confirm that an explosive device detonated there or anything of that sort,” Redmann said.

Police earlier said devices apparently made from pyrotechnics had been found at an electrical substation, although reports differed over whether any of them exploded.

Bild reported that police had confirmed an explosion and discovered several improvised incendiary and explosive devices, not all of which detonated.

Public broadcaster RBB, however, quoted police spokesperson Stefanie Pilz as saying that no explosion had occurred.

Grid operator 50Hertz said unknown perpetrators damaged several transmission lines, briefly interrupting operations. All lines were later restored, and the public electricity supply was unaffected.

The Jaenschwalde facility near the Polish border is one of Germany’s largest lignite-fired power stations.