Overview
- Two separate sabotage attempts targeted high‑voltage lines and substations near Jänschwalde in Brandenburg and at an Amprion site in Bergheim, North Rhine‑Westphalia, with investigators treating both as deliberate attacks.
- Investigators opened a terrorism probe in Brandenburg and are weighing a federal takeover of parts of the inquiry while forensic teams collect DNA, handset data and physical devices from both scenes.
- The Bergheim attack used pyrotechnic launch devices to place a conductive wire on overhead lines and forced five RWE lignite power units offline temporarily without causing broad consumer outages.
- Authorities are exploring whether the incidents were coordinated or directed by a foreign state or carried out by domestic extremists, and state interior ministers have publicly flagged both possibilities.
- Industry and security experts say the events expose legal and operational gaps in protecting dispersed substations and are renewing calls for state-funded drone detection, clearer rules for operators and faster resilience investments.