Some background information.
This powerplant, known within the community as powerplant IM, opened in the 1920's once was one of the biggest coal burning plants in Belgium. It's situated in a small, dirty neighborhood of a town at the river the Meuse. Water would be let into the cooling tower, where it would be cooled by the wind that swept in from portals in the base of the tower, releasing billowing columns of hot air. By the 70's, this would be the main source of energy of the area and it's said to have been able to cool down nearly half a million gallons of water every minute. New components were added to the powerplant so that it could also use gas power.
Somewhere in the 2000's a report showed up somewhere and it revealed that this particular powerplant was responsible for 10% of the carbondioxide emissions of all of Belgium. A lot of commotion and protests from Greenpeace followed. The powerplant fot a lot of negative media attention and it closed down.
After it was closed down, there were reports of looting by metal scrappers. There was also said to be security since then, but I haven't seen them.
The explore.
I visited this place in the summer of 2019. I had seen the cooling tower before, but the doors to get inside were locked back then, and we could only go underneath. Now I had heard they reopened and you could actually get inside again and this was the main reason for a new visit.
It was a warm day. The neighborhood was quiet. We could walk to this industrial site pretty easily and the only people who had seen us was a family sitting by the river catching fish. I think they were not supposed to be there either and I hope they were not planning to eat the fish they were catching, because the river should be really polluted in this area.
The doors to the cooling tower were indeed open and we could finally see the inside of the cooling tower. It was an intense experience. Standing in a place like that, you feel very small. The tower was enormous and had some very nice acoustics as well. My friend fantasized about playing guitar there sometime. He never did.
After visiting the cooling tower we decided we might as well visit the powerplant on the other side of the river. We climbed the bridge which was quite a challenge since the stairs had been removed. On the other side of the river, we could just walk in to the factory, everything was open. We spotted that they had started the demolition here. Some areas were covered in caution tape and safety nets and nearly all staircases had been removed from the ground level. We were still able to find our ways up and have a nice explore. I think this has been the last time I've been able to see this place. I have no idea what's left of it today.
Photo's.
The cooling tower
The powerplant
This powerplant, known within the community as powerplant IM, opened in the 1920's once was one of the biggest coal burning plants in Belgium. It's situated in a small, dirty neighborhood of a town at the river the Meuse. Water would be let into the cooling tower, where it would be cooled by the wind that swept in from portals in the base of the tower, releasing billowing columns of hot air. By the 70's, this would be the main source of energy of the area and it's said to have been able to cool down nearly half a million gallons of water every minute. New components were added to the powerplant so that it could also use gas power.
Somewhere in the 2000's a report showed up somewhere and it revealed that this particular powerplant was responsible for 10% of the carbondioxide emissions of all of Belgium. A lot of commotion and protests from Greenpeace followed. The powerplant fot a lot of negative media attention and it closed down.
After it was closed down, there were reports of looting by metal scrappers. There was also said to be security since then, but I haven't seen them.
The explore.
I visited this place in the summer of 2019. I had seen the cooling tower before, but the doors to get inside were locked back then, and we could only go underneath. Now I had heard they reopened and you could actually get inside again and this was the main reason for a new visit.
It was a warm day. The neighborhood was quiet. We could walk to this industrial site pretty easily and the only people who had seen us was a family sitting by the river catching fish. I think they were not supposed to be there either and I hope they were not planning to eat the fish they were catching, because the river should be really polluted in this area.
The doors to the cooling tower were indeed open and we could finally see the inside of the cooling tower. It was an intense experience. Standing in a place like that, you feel very small. The tower was enormous and had some very nice acoustics as well. My friend fantasized about playing guitar there sometime. He never did.
After visiting the cooling tower we decided we might as well visit the powerplant on the other side of the river. We climbed the bridge which was quite a challenge since the stairs had been removed. On the other side of the river, we could just walk in to the factory, everything was open. We spotted that they had started the demolition here. Some areas were covered in caution tape and safety nets and nearly all staircases had been removed from the ground level. We were still able to find our ways up and have a nice explore. I think this has been the last time I've been able to see this place. I have no idea what's left of it today.
Photo's.
The cooling tower
The powerplant
