Europe01 September, 20263 min read
Improvised Explosives Sabotage Power Lines Near Jaenschwalde Plant In Brandenburg, Germany
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Improvised explosive devices found at Preilack Turnow-Preilack substation feeding Jaenschwalde plant; at least one detonated. Several high-voltage lines damaged and power supply briefly interrupted.
German power sabotage
Improvised explosive devices were used in a sabotage attack near a coal-fired power plant in Germany, damaging several electricity lines and briefly interrupting supply, officials said. Several devices were found around 8:00 am (0600 GMT) at the Preilack substation, which distributes power from the nearby Jaenschwalde plant, and at least one detonated while others failed to go off, police spokeswoman Stefanie Pilz said. No one was hurt and there was no major blackout in the area about 100 kilometres (60 miles) southeast of Berlin, with grid operator 50Hertz saying there was a "brief interruption of service" and that all lines were back in operation.
Brandenburg premier Dietmar Woidke condemned the targeting of the power lines, saying, "We take attacks on our critical infrastructure very seriously," and LEAG described the incident as an "attack". German police and bomb-disposal teams were called to the Preilack substation in Turnow-Preilack, Brandenburg, where improvised explosive and incendiary devices were found and several overhead lines were damaged, according to EUalive.
Conflicting accounts, no injuries
Accounts differed on whether anything exploded, with Bild reporting police confirmed an explosion while RBB, citing Stefanie Pilz, said, "there had been no explosion," even as several explosive and incendiary devices were found. Grid operator 50Hertz said unknown perpetrators damaged several of its transmission lines, briefly interrupting service, and that all lines were back in operation with the public power supply unaffected. The Jaenschwalde plant is described as one of Germany’s largest brown-coal power plants in eastern Brandenburg near the Polish border, and the Preilack substation is located in Turnow-Preilack in the Spree-Neiße district of Brandenburg.
EUalive said Brandenburg’s criminal police have taken over the case and that no perpetrator has been named, while Anadolu Ajansı reported police confirmed explosive devices were found at the electrical substation. In parallel across the border, Polish investigators treated an overnight blaze at the WB Electronics plant in Skarżysko-Kamienna as possible sabotage, with prosecutors opening a terrorism inquiry and interior minister Marcin Kierwiński saying everything indicated sabotage.
Broader European stakes
The German incident fed into a wider European pattern of sabotage language, with RTL Today describing a string of arson attacks around the German capital and noting Berlin’s high alert for sabotage plots linked to Russia. RTL Today said Berlin is a key backer of Ukraine and that it is on high alert for sabotage plots linked to Russia, while EUalive described the two incidents on a short stretch of the German–Polish border as part of a strategic picture of energy and drone production. EUalive said the WB Electronics fire in Skarżysko-Kamienna involved a company whose reconnaissance and loitering-munition drones, including FlyEye and Warmate, are used by both the Polish and Ukrainian armed forces, and it reported damage put at at least 15 million zloty.
“Today, security means reducing fossil import dependence through diversification, renewables, efficiency, grids and storage.”
In Germany, the political and security framing also extended to the Nord Stream bombings, with Al Jazeera saying the 2022 destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines was dubbed an act of sabotage and that it "reinforced a key lesson" for Germany’s energy dependence. Al Jazeera quoted Claudia Kemfert saying, "Today, security means reducing fossil import dependence through diversification, renewables, efficiency, grids and storage," linking the sabotage narrative to how Berlin’s energy system and ties with Kyiv are shaped.