It's been a while since I last posted here, but I'm feeling like writing some reports again. Let's start with a power station I got the chance to visit last year.
• History
This power plant is one of the oldest Poland. Its construction started in November 1896 by the Allgemeine Elektrizität Gesellschaft (AEG) as part of the creation of a system for supplying electricity to municipal and industrial customers in Upper Silesia. This particular location was advantageous due to the proximity of mines that “produce” fuel waste in the form of coal dust. The New Power Plant was equipped with machines generating alternating current (6000 V), which supplied the general network of consumers, and direct current (600 V), which supplied the tram network. The first electricity flowed to consumers on December 21, 1897.
In 1900, the Power Plant was taken over by the company Schlesische Elektrizitäts und Gas Aktien Gesellschaft, whose shareholder was AEG. Due to the constant increase in demand, the plant was quickly expanded. The initial power of 280 KW increased to 1,300 KW after the first steam turbines were installed in 1906.
During World War II, most of the power plant management staff was evacuated deep into Germany, but the remaining crew did not stop working. In January 1945, the plant was taken over by Soviet troops, and in May they handed it over to the city authorities. The power plant was almost completely dismantled and destroyed. During the reconstruction, new Śkoda turbines were installed, which are still there today.
In 1953, a new part of the main hall, dating from 1910, was added. In 1985, the Zabrze Power Plant was taken over by a state-owned enterprise under the name “Południ District Energy” based in Katowice, and from 1989 it was part of the “Katowice Heat and Power Plant Complex”.
The plant shut down for good in 2019, after 122 years of service.
In 2022 it was was taken over by the city of Zabrze, which wants to transform it into a public space serving the local community. The plan is to repurpose the building while preserving it’s unique architecure.
• Explore
I visited this plant during an otherwise not very successful trip in Poland. After mutiple fails at other places due to 10 gazillion brand new cameras we were starting to loose hope, but in the end it was surprsingly not that bad in Zabrze. A bit stressful because security is supposedly sometime doing rounds inside of the turbine hall.
As always, early morning infiltration, we waited for sunrise on top of the boiler house, keeping an eye on the guard booth through the windows to make sure we were not noticed.
The boilers were rebuilt after WW2, so sadly the beautiful older ones are no more. Still nice though. Before/After of the firing aisle:
The true highlight is of course the turbine hall. As saied before, the oldest part was built in 1910 and an extention was added in the 50’s. Although the units were replaced, most of the orifinal architecture is still visible. The more modern part keeps the general shape of the old one, but without the ornate details.
The wonderful staircase to the control room, ornate with stained glass reading “ELZ”,the initials for ELektrownia Zabrze. The control room itself was unfortunately locked.
The Skoda units
This unit is soviet-built
On the side, a small Brown-Boveri unit
And before leaving, a look at the oldest condenser
Quite a short report in term of photos, we didn’t dare to stay much longer as we didn’t know if the guard was still making rounds inside or not. Getting caught there will definitly lead to big problems as it is on the territory of an active plant, and Polish authorities are really paranoid about sabotage and espinoage since the Ukraine war started.
Important notice: I've been told it is now quite easily possible to get permission to legaly visit this plant! While I don't have the details of the procedure to get such permission, you'll have to get in touch with the city of Zabrze which is now in charge of the site and it's future redeveloppement.
• History
This power plant is one of the oldest Poland. Its construction started in November 1896 by the Allgemeine Elektrizität Gesellschaft (AEG) as part of the creation of a system for supplying electricity to municipal and industrial customers in Upper Silesia. This particular location was advantageous due to the proximity of mines that “produce” fuel waste in the form of coal dust. The New Power Plant was equipped with machines generating alternating current (6000 V), which supplied the general network of consumers, and direct current (600 V), which supplied the tram network. The first electricity flowed to consumers on December 21, 1897.
In 1900, the Power Plant was taken over by the company Schlesische Elektrizitäts und Gas Aktien Gesellschaft, whose shareholder was AEG. Due to the constant increase in demand, the plant was quickly expanded. The initial power of 280 KW increased to 1,300 KW after the first steam turbines were installed in 1906.
During World War II, most of the power plant management staff was evacuated deep into Germany, but the remaining crew did not stop working. In January 1945, the plant was taken over by Soviet troops, and in May they handed it over to the city authorities. The power plant was almost completely dismantled and destroyed. During the reconstruction, new Śkoda turbines were installed, which are still there today.
In 1953, a new part of the main hall, dating from 1910, was added. In 1985, the Zabrze Power Plant was taken over by a state-owned enterprise under the name “Południ District Energy” based in Katowice, and from 1989 it was part of the “Katowice Heat and Power Plant Complex”.
The plant shut down for good in 2019, after 122 years of service.
In 2022 it was was taken over by the city of Zabrze, which wants to transform it into a public space serving the local community. The plan is to repurpose the building while preserving it’s unique architecure.
• Explore
I visited this plant during an otherwise not very successful trip in Poland. After mutiple fails at other places due to 10 gazillion brand new cameras we were starting to loose hope, but in the end it was surprsingly not that bad in Zabrze. A bit stressful because security is supposedly sometime doing rounds inside of the turbine hall.
As always, early morning infiltration, we waited for sunrise on top of the boiler house, keeping an eye on the guard booth through the windows to make sure we were not noticed.
The boilers were rebuilt after WW2, so sadly the beautiful older ones are no more. Still nice though. Before/After of the firing aisle:
The true highlight is of course the turbine hall. As saied before, the oldest part was built in 1910 and an extention was added in the 50’s. Although the units were replaced, most of the orifinal architecture is still visible. The more modern part keeps the general shape of the old one, but without the ornate details.
The wonderful staircase to the control room, ornate with stained glass reading “ELZ”,the initials for ELektrownia Zabrze. The control room itself was unfortunately locked.
The Skoda units
This unit is soviet-built
On the side, a small Brown-Boveri unit
And before leaving, a look at the oldest condenser
Quite a short report in term of photos, we didn’t dare to stay much longer as we didn’t know if the guard was still making rounds inside or not. Getting caught there will definitly lead to big problems as it is on the territory of an active plant, and Polish authorities are really paranoid about sabotage and espinoage since the Ukraine war started.
Important notice: I've been told it is now quite easily possible to get permission to legaly visit this plant! While I don't have the details of the procedure to get such permission, you'll have to get in touch with the city of Zabrze which is now in charge of the site and it's future redeveloppement.
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