Ruien Power Plant, Kluisbergen, Belgium

Ruien Power Plant, Kluisbergen, Belgium

Gigawatt power station opened in 1960s and grew to be Belgium's largest thermal power plant. The now-decommissioned plant is seriously huge!

Visited May 2014  Belgium Kluisbergen, Belgium Demolished

Ruien Power Plant (aka Gigawatt, Power Plant XL or the Cloud Factory) was Belgium’s largest thermal power plant. It is seriously huge! The plant had been expanded numerous times over the years since it opened in the 1960s with two turbine sets. As demand increased further turbines were added and by the 1990s the turbine hall contained six sets. Modern heat-recovery techniques were added to attempt to increase efficiency, however they failed to provide a sustainable future for the plant forcing it to close in 2012.

Ruien Power Plant - Turbine Hall
Ruien Power Plant – Turbine Hall
Ruien Power Plant - Red Escher Wyss turbine
Ruien Power Plant – Red Escher Wyss turbine
Ruien Power Plant - Lots of pipes!
Ruien Power Plant – Lots of pipes!
Ruien Power Plant - Dials and gauges in turbine hall
Ruien Power Plant – Dials and gauges in turbine hall
Ruien Power Plant - Escher Wyss turbine nameplate detail
Ruien Power Plant – Escher Wyss turbine nameplate detail
Ruien Power Plant - Escher Wyss turbine square on view
Ruien Power Plant – Escher Wyss turbine square on view
Ruien Power Plant - End of turbine hall
Ruien Power Plant – End of turbine hall
Ruien Power Plant - Hanging around
Ruien Power Plant – Hanging around
Ruien Power Plant - Turbine hall overview - It's huge!
Ruien Power Plant – Turbine hall overview – It’s huge!
Ruien Power Plant - Turbine hall overview looking the other way
Ruien Power Plant – Turbine hall overview looking the other way
Ruien Power Plant - Even the fisheye doesn't get all of this place in
Ruien Power Plant – Even the fisheye doesn’t get all of this place in
Ruien Power Plant - Desk in control room
Ruien Power Plant – Desk in control room
Ruien Power Plant - Control room
Ruien Power Plant – Control room
Ruien Power Plant - Mmmmmm! Pipe Porn!
Ruien Power Plant – Mmmmmm! Pipe Porn!
Ruien Power Plant - Square pipes
Ruien Power Plant – Square pipes
Ruien Power Plant - More pipes
Ruien Power Plant – More pipes
Ruien Power Plant - Big tanks
Ruien Power Plant – Big tanks
Ruien Power Plant - Spare parts storage srea
Ruien Power Plant – Spare parts storage srea
Ruien Power Plant - Boiler face
Ruien Power Plant – Boiler face
Ruien Power Plant - External from roof
Ruien Power Plant – External from roof
Ruien Power Plant - Sunburst external
Ruien Power Plant – Sunburst external
Ruien Power Plant - External with cooling tower and chimneys
Ruien Power Plant – External with cooling tower and chimneys
If you liked this report please check out Proj3ct M4yh3m's Gigawatt Power Plant Report too.
Author: Andy Kay | Facebook | Flickr | Instagram

7 thoughts on Ruien Power Plant, Kluisbergen, Belgium

  1. in the words of Glen Quagmire… gigedy gigedy! Starburst shot is frigging epic! so much win in this report! Top day out!

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