An incident at an Amprion substation in Bergheim, North Rhine-Westphalia, has triggered large-scale power plant shutdowns. Police were called to the substation on Tuesday evening because of a short circuit and the failure of several lines, a spokesman for the Essen police said on Wednesday. "We are not assuming a technical fault, but a deliberate act," the spokesman said.
Officers were alerted at around 8 p.m. to a "fault" at the substation in the Rheidt district of Bergheim. Several lines failed there following a short circuit, the police spokesman said. There was, however, no blackout, and the surrounding communities continued to receive electricity.
According to the energy company RWE, five power plant blocks were affected by the incident at the North Rhine-Westphalian substation on Tuesday evening. A total generating capacity of 4,200 megawatts was taken off the grid, RWE announced on Wednesday morning. The units affected, RWE said, are the lignite-fired blocks Neurath G and F as well as Niederaußem H, G and K. At the time of the incident at around 8 p.m., these units had been feeding roughly 3,000 megawatts into the electricity grid.
Blocks Neurath G and Niederaußem H were expected to return to the grid during the morning, with Neurath F following over the course of the day. The two remaining blocks are not expected to be back in operation until the weekend.
Amprion itself confirmed from its Dortmund headquarters: "It must be assumed with a high degree of probability that this was due to external interference." The general electricity supply, however, was not impaired at any point, and system stability remains assured. No confirmed findings on the background to the incident are available yet.
On Tuesday, unknown perpetrators had already carried out an attack on a substation at the Jänschwalde coal-fired power plant in southern Brandenburg. According to grid operator 50Hertz, "home-made flying objects that resemble commercially available New Year's fireworks rockets" were used in that attack.
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