Deuben coal-fired power station: 85-year-old kiln goes offline

Status: 07.12.2021 17:37

In Deuben, Saxony-Anhalt, there is probably the oldest active lignite power station in Germany. Built in 1936, it supplied electricity, briquettes, heat and coal dust for 85 years. Now it has gone offline.

As always, an electric locomotive pushes around ten wagons into a long hall at walking pace. After a signal from the maneuver, the transport comes to a standstill. Directly under the rails, the coal bunker is already waiting for the “feed” for the power plant ovens. The side walls are unlocked by hand and the fuel falls into the depths, accompanied by a large cloud of dust. All of this will happen for the last time today. The lignite power plant goes offline.

“For me it is a very emotional moment because I basically grew up here,” says Steiger Matthias Schubert, describing the final delivery act, which he and a handful of friends follow closely. “I spent my childhood here, went to school here, learned in the company and spent my entire working life here.”

Lignite power station no longer up to date

After all, 43 years of professional experience come together at Schubert. When he went to his apprenticeship in this company, very dark clouds rose from the chimneys and reliably laid an ominous carpet of pollutants on the environment – with sulfur, nitrogen oxides and mercury. That should change considerably after the fall of the Wall, but Schubert realizes that the technology is now simply outdated: “Unfortunately, the system was simply no longer able to cope with the current requirements. We could no longer withstand it. Us went, as they say, out of breath. “

Lignite power plants are considered to be climate killers, especially older plants like the one in Deuben. As early as 2015, Greenpeace activists raised the alarm and occupied the power plant’s chimney. In the meantime, the exit from coal-fired power generation is a done deal. The Deuben power station is one of the first to stop its turbines.

At one time, 2000 people were employed here at weddings. But gradually the site dried up. First the apprentice workshop moved, then the briquette factory closed, and last month the pulverized coal production closed. And now the last shift ends for the 135 power plant employees.

New jobs or early retirement for the buddies

“A good half of them go into well-deserved retirement,” says specialist technician Markus Böhme. “The ABG and the rest will be properly implemented. And they are also looking forward to their new tasks.” The 39-year-old stays with the company: “After Profen, I go to work preparation, auxiliary equipment, among other things. But I’ll stay true to my job.”

The 59-year-old Steiger Schubert, however, uses the opportunity of an early retirement scheme. For him – as for another 450 miners – his time at the Central German Lignite Company MIBRAG ends when the furnace fire is blown out. This was made possible by a funding program from the Federal Network Agency. And although with a view to the CO2 balance not only climate activists cry a tear after the power plant, things look different with the local buddies, Schubert admits: “Certainly, you don’t always want to show it that way, but it will be like that. “

There are still no precise plans for the industrial site in Deuben, but MIBRAG is developing new business areas such as recycling, renewable energies and all aspects of hydrogen, according to the boardroom. It is quite possible that the lights will come on again in Deuben in a few years – but then it will probably be fed by green electricity.

Germany’s oldest active lignite power plant goes offline

Theo M. Lies, MDR, December 7, 2021 4:50 p.m.

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