After Cannes, Nice targeted by electrical sabotage
Le Monde/Le Parisien, May 25, 2025 (excerpt)
The day after a power cut in and around Cannes, a transformer was deliberately set on fire in Nice on Saturday night. According to a police source and the public prosecutor’s office, the transformer in question is located in the Moulins district, to the west of the city.
“On May 25, 2025, at around 2 a.m., an electrical transformer on Avenue Paul Montel in Nice was deliberately damaged and set on fire,” the public prosecutor’s office said. “Traces of tires” were found, and a source close to the case referred to ‘a broken door [of the transformer’s premises]’.
Some 45,000 households were temporarily without power in Nice and the neighboring towns of Saint-Laurent-du-Var and Cagnes-sur-Mer, said Enedis. Nice’s streetcar network was briefly impacted, with a delayed resumption in the early morning, and the airport was temporarily without power. By 6 a.m., power had been restored.
A flagrante delicto investigation has been opened for “destruction by fire in an organized gang” and entrusted to the judicial police. For the time being, there is nothing to link this fire with the events of Saturday, when 160,000 people were left without power not far from Cannes.
RTE to step up security at sensitive sites after sabotage causing widespread power cuts
Var Matin, May 25, 2025
Following a series of targeted attacks on electricity infrastructures in the Alpes-Maritimes and Var regions, network operator RTE is stepping up surveillance of sensitive sites in the face of an unprecedented threat.
A new guarding measure has been deployed at certain sites deemed to be at risk. These human reinforcements complement existing security measures, including fencing, video surveillance and other confidential means of detection “which we cannot detail for obvious reasons”, says RTE.
This switch to active security comes after three attacks in two days: a substation set on fire in Saint-Cassien, within the grounds of the Tanneron plant, on Friday night; a pylon sawed down in Villeneuve-Loubet in the steep Vanade sector, leading to a massive power cut on Saturday morning; and a transformer burnt to the ground west of Nice, on Saturday night. These potentially coordinated actions targeted key points on the network, causing significant disruption despite rapid restoration of service.
Permanent surveillance of pylons impossible
The network managed by RTE extends over 106,000 kilometers of extra-high-voltage lines, supported by a network of pylons scattered throughout the country, often in the middle of nowhere.
This extensive model makes permanent surveillance impossible. And while electrical substations – some 2,800 in France, including dozens, if not hundreds, in the Alpes Maritimes and Var regions – are easier to monitor, not all can benefit from the same level of protection.
Priority is therefore given to the most strategic ones, identified in conjunction with local authorities and law enforcement agencies.
Individuals who knew about the security loopholes?
“Existing tools, such as the sensors installed on the lines, can detect anomalies, but without specifying their origin”, explains RTE. In the event of an incident, teams must therefore travel to the site to observe the damage, which can be complicated when access is difficult, as was the case in Villeneuve-Loubet. The choice of this isolated pylon also suggests a meticulously prepared action, carried out by individuals familiar with the terrain and the network’s vulnerabilities.
Faced with these limitations, RTE adjusted its strategy. In addition to reinforcing human presence, discussions are underway with public authorities to improve prevention and response in the event of intrusion or sabotage. But protecting a network designed to transport electricity, and not to resist targeted attacks, remains a real headache… Its structure, by definition open and distributed throughout the country, cannot unfortunately be secured like an enclosed building.
via: sansnom
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