A quite well-known abandoned power plant in France. The first photos appeared around 2015, and then for six years nothing. As we learned before our trip, the first explorer got caught by security and spent some time in a cell in a police station. Then the entry got sealed. The three friends I was with on this trip tried this power plant three or four years ago and gave up fast - the whole place was a damn fortress, and after trying to find a way in, they decided there was none. About a year ago I saw some photos online, and we've been planning a visit for quite a while, but things didn't work out. This summer, we finally had an opportunity.
The power plant was built in the 50s and 60s with four 250MW blocks. It was shut down in 2014 and is undergoing decommissioning now. The power plant burnt coal from mines in the nearby area and had a long conveyor going from the coal heaps to a nearby river pier where the coal got unloaded from the ships. I was also brought in by trains. There are four white turbines with the distinctive Rateau-Schneider look. The turbines were made by Rateau-Schneider, and the generators by Jeumont-Schneider/ACEC. The control room is empty. There are some signs of the ongoing demolition inside - there are LED strips stretched around the catwalks, and many of the beams and machines have markings of some sort sprayed on them.
As for our explore - we arrived the evening before the big day and camped next to the river near the power plant. We made an improvised fireplace from pieces of concrete piled up nearby and found an iron grate on the ground (which we kept for the rest of the trip, so we had something to cook meat on). Surprisingly, some of the concrete was probably not concrete since it caught fire. I was not too excited about the explore - the whole thing seemed very sketchy, and when I heard about the entry and the exit (which was uber sketch), I contemplated not going, but in the end, I got convinced. Thank god I got convinced.
So the next day at 3 AM, we woke up, packed up, and drove to our parking spot a bit from the power plant. After a few minutes of walking, we saw the fence, and it looked like a damn prison - some 4 meters tall, barbed wire on top, concrete base, barbed wire behind it, and lights every 15 or so meters. We found our entry point relatively fast and got inside. We got into the power plant with no problems and then slept for an hour and a half, hidden on a boiler catwalk in case security were to check the turbine hall (some people say they've encountered security inside in the night, so we wanted to be careful just in case). While we were taking photos, the outside got noisy with trucks going around the power plant. We were worried about people inside the boiler house, but no one came. After two hours, the noise died down, and we finished our business, so we made our way out. We had to pass relatively close to the guard booth, and coincidentally the guards were having a smoke outside and looking at us. For some reason - maybe it was our confident march across the road, or they just couldn't be bothered - they did not react in any significant way, so as soon as we got out of their sight, we made a mad dash up a hill, down some dense bushes, and towards our entry point. We got out successfully and jogged to our car.
The power plant was built in the 50s and 60s with four 250MW blocks. It was shut down in 2014 and is undergoing decommissioning now. The power plant burnt coal from mines in the nearby area and had a long conveyor going from the coal heaps to a nearby river pier where the coal got unloaded from the ships. I was also brought in by trains. There are four white turbines with the distinctive Rateau-Schneider look. The turbines were made by Rateau-Schneider, and the generators by Jeumont-Schneider/ACEC. The control room is empty. There are some signs of the ongoing demolition inside - there are LED strips stretched around the catwalks, and many of the beams and machines have markings of some sort sprayed on them.
As for our explore - we arrived the evening before the big day and camped next to the river near the power plant. We made an improvised fireplace from pieces of concrete piled up nearby and found an iron grate on the ground (which we kept for the rest of the trip, so we had something to cook meat on). Surprisingly, some of the concrete was probably not concrete since it caught fire. I was not too excited about the explore - the whole thing seemed very sketchy, and when I heard about the entry and the exit (which was uber sketch), I contemplated not going, but in the end, I got convinced. Thank god I got convinced.
So the next day at 3 AM, we woke up, packed up, and drove to our parking spot a bit from the power plant. After a few minutes of walking, we saw the fence, and it looked like a damn prison - some 4 meters tall, barbed wire on top, concrete base, barbed wire behind it, and lights every 15 or so meters. We found our entry point relatively fast and got inside. We got into the power plant with no problems and then slept for an hour and a half, hidden on a boiler catwalk in case security were to check the turbine hall (some people say they've encountered security inside in the night, so we wanted to be careful just in case). While we were taking photos, the outside got noisy with trucks going around the power plant. We were worried about people inside the boiler house, but no one came. After two hours, the noise died down, and we finished our business, so we made our way out. We had to pass relatively close to the guard booth, and coincidentally the guards were having a smoke outside and looking at us. For some reason - maybe it was our confident march across the road, or they just couldn't be bothered - they did not react in any significant way, so as soon as we got out of their sight, we made a mad dash up a hill, down some dense bushes, and towards our entry point. We got out successfully and jogged to our car.
