Blue Power Plant 🇧🇪

This coke-gas powered power plant is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful power stations I have seen so far. Power plants often stand out from other factories by their complex architecture, pipes and large turbine halls, often very aesthetic to fans of industrial architecture like me. Here, although it is not particularly bulky, this plant offers a lot of photogenic elements thanks to its vintage aspect, its good condition. It is also colorful with lights and colors, both in the “boiler room” and in the turbine room.

This plant is located on the same site as another imposing abandoned factory, which are both from a time when coal and steel were still a major asset in the Belgian economy. The site has inevitably undergone many changes over time, and this is noticeable in the turbine room, where several turbines from different time periods are exhibited, like in a museum. Their power ranged from 6.5 MW to 75 MW. The most recent turbine, also the largest (a blue Escher Wyss), gives its name (or at least its color) to the plant, which is nicknamed the "Blue Power Plant". It could just as well have been named "Yellow" after the magnificent yellow pipes in the boiler room. The control room, still intact, is hidden in the dark following a small access from the corner of the large hall, not ideal to highlight it well.

Magnificent exploration, which ended with a security escort to the gates of the site (the place is known to be very guarded). On the one hand, if the place is so well preserved today, it is in large part thanks to the security guys who watch over the site. I hope that this place will be preserved and not demolished in the future. We will see…