Once powerful, now a heritage site

Construction work on Frimmersdorf II Power Station started in 1953. It was the successor to a plant built in 1926 and long since demolished. Between 1955 and 1970, two 100-, twelve 150- and two 300-MW power plant units were completed in quick succession. Meanwhile, all of these units already were decommissioned on account of their age. (Historical image: RWE Corporate Archives)

Energy location steeped in tradition was active for almost 100 years

Units P and Q, named “Paula” and “Quelle” by the locals, for instance, had racked up a total of 700,000 operating hours and generated 244 billion kilowatt hours of electricity. This would have been sufficient to cover the entire electricity consumption of the city of Düsseldorf for 60 years. In total, the Frimmersdorf II site has generated almost 1,000 billion kilowatt hours of electricity since it went into operation – enough to supply Düsseldorf with electricity for 250 years.

Fixed schedule for phasing out electricity generation from lignite

Decommissioning of power plants in line with the Coal Phase-out Act will affect around 6,000 RWE Power employees by 2030. A collective agreement of August 2020 ensures that there will be no forced redundancies and that the decommissioning process will be socially compatible. Financial support from the government makes early retirement possible. The consistent and steady coal phase-out taking place in several stages is now in full progress and another key element in RWE’s transformation to becoming a global leader in generation from renewables.

Good prospects

Frimmersdorf Power Station will be largely dismantled over the next few years to make room for new industries. However, the striking machine hall and some neighbouring parts of the plant will be preserved in the spirit of industrial heritage conservation. Space for offices and data centres will be created there.