Utilities call for tighter grid security after fresh attacks on Germany’s power grid

Two new sabotage attacks on Germany’s electricity grid show that police and intelligence services must urgently step up the protection of critical infrastructure, and that government cannot shift this responsibility onto operators, the country’s municipal utility association VKU said. “The recent attacks on the electricity grids show that the threat situation is escalating and that our critical infrastructure is vulnerable. It could strike us anytime, anywhere,” said Ingbert Liebing, head of the lobby group.

In the east of the country, devices carrying conductive material damaged a transformer substation, while police also investigated an attack on a substation in the west. These incidents follow a blackout lasting several days in parts of Berlin in January after an arson attack on power cables, claimed by a radical-left group, and come shortly after Germany accused Russia's government of a foiled drone attack on Leipzig airport.

Both new attacks led to the partial and temporary closure of nearby lignite power plants. East German coal operator LEAG said the attack caused a shutdown at one unit of its Jänschwalde plant. West German coal plant operator RWE said a combined capacity of 4.2 gigawatts was temporarily taken offline in the Rhenish mining area.

“Security is the primary responsibility of the state, and the active prevention of attacks is therefore the task of the police and intelligence services, not of companies,” Liebing said, adding that utilities were already doing everything in their power to protect their critical infrastructure as best they can.

He called on federal and state governments to work with operators on rapid, well-funded protection strategies, adding that "the state must not shift its responsibility for public security onto businesses."

In response to the first of the two attacks, energy industry group BDEW said the event underlined that prevention and quick responses were key for protecting critical infrastructure. The lobby group called for changes to transparency and data protection laws to prevent technical information on power plants and other infrastructure from being made public, and to allow video surveillance of public spaces near critical infrastructure.