Defunct coal-fired power station demolished in Germany

The former coal-fired power plant in Ibbenbühren in Germany has been blown up.

Where a coal-fired power station once produced electricity, a converter station is to convert wind power from the North Sea in a few years. In addition, the boiler house of the Ibbenbüren power station is now blown up. The cooling tower is brought down with a special method.

125 meters high - and long a landmark. Now the cooling tower of the former coal power plant Ibbenbüren collapsed in a few seconds. The blasting had been prepared for months.

In Ibbenbüren, the coal exit is taken seriously and the local power plant is being converted. Energy will be generated again on the site in the future – but from wind.

Ibbenbüren (NRW) – On Saturday, April 6, 2025, a piece of industrial history fell apart in Ibbenbüren. In a spectacular action, the former RWE coal power plant was blown up – a massive intervention with symbolic character. While the boiler house and the 125-meter-high cooling tower fell into ruins within seconds, a nationwide debate about the usefulness of German energy policy erupted.

Defunct coal-fired power station demolished in Germany

A demolition company used some 500 kilograms of explosives to topple a 120-metre boiler house and later brought down a 125-metre cooling tower of a defunct coal-fired power station at Ibbenbüren in western Germany on Sunday, reported dpa. The demolition in two stages, the first before noon and the second shortly afterwards, had gone according to plan, a company spokeswoman said. A crowd gathered to watch the spectacular event. Around 830 residen…