On 6 September, the cooling tower of Block F at the Uniper coal-fired power plant in Gelsenkirchen-Scholven was demolished using explosives. At 2126 MW, it was once one of the largest power stations in Europe. The dismantling project has been underway since April 2024. As part of a comprehensive safety concept developed and implemented by Uniper, the demolition company Regrata and other interested parties, a 300 m restricted area was defined around the cooling tower.
The first signal tone indicating the demolition had not yet faded away when the cooling tower was lying in the previously calculated position. Uniper will process the approximately 11 000 tons of concrete rubble on site into high-quality recycled material and reuse it to fill the excavation pits.
In order to tilt the cooling tower precisely to the position that had been calculated beforehand, a vertical slot and several drop slots had to be installed in the tower. A total of around 400 drill holes were created shortly before the demolition. 60 kg explosives were used. On 2008 cooling towers G and H were successfully demolished using the same blasting strategy.
Dr. Martin Hein, head of Decommissioning at Uniper, said: “It is clear that the Scholven landmark is changing. And the further dismantling activities at the … power plant site are progressing well. This year, we will also demolish boiler house F and the FGD plant. Further demolitions are planned for the site in 2026.”
Uniper power plant manager Dr. Lars Wiese said: “The demolition of cooling tower F is an important step and the next major visible sign of the dismantling of the former Scholven coal site. With the space now freed up, the transformation of the site continues. The direction is clear: decarbonisation, security of supply, and securing developing the site.”
Uniper plans to build a new H2-ready gas-fired power plant at the site in the coming years. Other projects for environmentally friendly energy generation are also in the planning stage.
