Remember those seven black ravens. These sooty symbols once defined Bremen’s skyline. We are standing before Kraftwerk Hastedt. It is Bremen’s oldest power plant. Since 1905, Kraftwerk Hastedt has been a key energy provider.
Initially, this was a modern coal plant. It generated alternating current. Its first output was 2,400 kilowatts. For a long time, its chimneys dominated the view. Locals called them “the seven black ravens”.
Let’s jump to August 23, 1941. The city of Bremen founded Stadtwerke Bremen AG. This secured Bremen’s connection to the city. Before that, Carl Röver tried to hand the plant over to Oldenburg. He was the Reich governor of Bremen and Oldenburg.
Fast forward to 1972. Kraftwerk Hastedt built Block 14. This natural gas block was Bremen’s first fully automated power plant. It primarily covered peak electricity demand.
In 1989 and 1990, Block 15 was built. This new coal block used combined heat and power. It generated both electricity and district heating. Architects Schomers, Schürmann and Stridde designed Block 15.
The plant reduced emissions using special systems. These included flue gas desulfurization and DeNOx units. Environmental monitoring occurred through data transfer. Data went to the Bremen Water Management Office.
But the Kraftwerk Hastedt wasn’t without drama.
October 12, 2008, brought a fire. The shift supervisor spotted it in coal silo 4. A smoldering fire developed within 3,000 tons of coal. This coal sat inside the 30-meter-high silo. Firefighters and employees began emptying it.
The next day, a deflagration happened. Smoldering gases had built up above the coal layer. An explosive atmosphere formed. The pressure wave destroyed the roof. It also wrecked the conveying system. The silo was then demolished. This allowed access to the embers. By October 22, the fire was out. The silo tower was empty. The damage cost swb about 4.2 million euros in 2009.
On July 9, 2009, more trouble brewed. Employees found high temperatures and smoke. This came from day bunker 3. About 270 tons of coal were inside. Firefighters and rescue services arrived with 65 personnel. Overnight, normal operations burned most of the coal. The embers disappeared. Block 15 was shut down. Workers then manually removed the remaining coal.
The cause was a “coincidence of technical circumstances”. The plant was idle. Minutes after restarting, the fire alarms went off. The coal had dried out. It self-ignited. swb invested about one million euros in repairs. They also invested in extra safety equipment.
In April 2019, a new control power plant started. It has a 15-megawatt output. It balances fluctuations. These fluctuations come from solar, hydro, and wind energy. The system stabilizes the grid. It adds control energy when needed. Block 15 already had a heat storage unit. A lithium-ion battery was added. This stores surplus electricity. It can also send power to an electric boiler.
The heat storage unit secures electrical energy as heat. It feeds this heat into Bremen’s eastern district heating network. The heat storage capacity is 230 MWh. This lasts about 15 hours.
In August 2023, a new combined heat and power plant started. It runs on natural gas.
Block 15, Bremen’s last coal-fired power plant, closed on April 30, 2024.
Kraftwerk Hastedt continues to evolve. It adapts to Bremen’s energy needs. It balances tradition with modern technology.