Garzweiler : sabotaging the pylon of the coal mine
via: sansnom Translated by Act for freedom now!
Electricity pylon probably sabotaged at a power plant in Germany
dpa (Deutsche Presse-Agentur), 12 March 2023
An 80-meter-high electricity pylon has fallen at the site of an open-pit coal mine in Garzweiler in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The operator of one of the country’s largest power plants, RWE, believes it could be an act of sabotage.
RWE has already been the target of various demonstrations by environmental activists, which have sometimes degenerated, and therefore assumes that the tower was damaged with the intention that it should collapse. A spokesman for the company told the dpa agency on Saturday that if this is sabotage “we condemn it in the strongest terms. The police have confirmed the probable intervention of outsiders”.
According to RWE, the tower supplies the mine with electricity. For safety reasons, two of the four power circuits on the tower in question have been cut off. The Garzweiler mine remains in operation and the power plant can continue to function.
Suspicion confirmed: sabotage of the foot of an electricity pylon near Garzweiler / Attack on critical infrastructure in Grevenbroich – a large electricity pylon knocked down
Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung/Rheinische Post, March 13, 2023
An 80-meter high electricity pylon supplying the open-cast coal mine in Garzweiler, south of Mönchengladbach, collapsed “due to deliberate external influences”. This has now been confirmed by initial investigations, the Aachen police said on Monday. The State Security took over the investigation.
Two of the four poles of the overhead line tower in Grevenbroich show clear signs of tampering, as metal parts have obviously been torn off [after being sawn] and screws loosened on the two so-called corner poles. “The structure of the mast has been weakened, so that it has collapsed,” said the RWE spokesman. The approximately 80-meter high tower had bent by Friday afternoon. This 110 kv line supplies electricity to the Garzweiler open pit mine and the Fürth water production plant. On Friday night, two of the four electrical circuits that pass through the tower had to be shut down.
The open-cast mine operator RWE had already assumed on Saturday that the mast had been “deliberately damaged” and was apparently “destined to collapse”. A spokesman for RWE said afterwards, “If this was sabotage of critical infrastructure, we would condemn it in the strongest possible terms.” It is possible that it all happened a while ago and that strong wind gusts caused the mast to topple over on Friday.
For safety reasons, a large security perimeter was established around the tower. Police and plant protection forces secured access, which caused astonishment among some Grevenbroich residents. As a spokesman for the group said, several pylons of the power line were checked by specialists on Friday night; no further damage or evidence of tampering was found.
The pylon must now be stabilized with cranes. Preparations began this weekend. Tractors brought tons of sand to the vicinity of the power tower; bulldozers spread the sand and created a kind of “road” on which the heavy tower must be straightened to the right position. As a spokesperson for RWE explained, the tower has to be carefully lifted and placed on a temporary structure. The tower’s “feet” must then be rebuilt. RWE, as owner of the tower, and the company Westnetz are working together to solve the problem. The cables, which are guided by brackets on the mast booms, must be able to remain suspended during the stabilization work. The duration of the work will also depend on the wind. While the weekend was relatively calm, experts expect some gusts early this week.
In the past, there have been several attacks on the energy group’s critical infrastructure. In 2016, an 80-meter-high electricity pylon was sawn down at the Inden open-pit mine and a main power line caught fire at the Hambach open-pit mine – the damage was extensive. Shortly afterwards, an incendiary device with working fuses was discovered under a transformer in the RWE Nordsüdbahn signal box near the Neurath thermal power plant.
