As part of our recent Germany trip, I've decided to tick off this location from my list. Once again, I've had it on my map for about three years but haven't had the time to visit. This place used to be a nightmare to get into - a paper mill with a boiler house and turbine hall. One of my friends has been there multiple times since 2018 until 2023. There are essentially three things there - turbine, boilers, and the paper machine. The turbine hall was accessible for a while, my friend got inside on the first visit. The boiler house was worse, and he was lucky to find an open door (which was closed soon after) - the water was still running from the water tap at the time. There were some scary Russian dudes working as security or owners. Then the whole place opened up a bit more and people started getting into the boiler house. Half a year ago or so, the paper machine got accessible. The rest of the area is still in use (wood storage or something related to wood), and as we found out can be very active.
History
Now for some history - the paper mill was reportedly opened in the 1840s. In the following years, it was expanded. It had three water wheels and one 20-horsepower steam engine. Afterwards, it was sold and a new paper machine was installed. The mill switched to wood as the primary input, whereas before it used clothing material. Then in the early 1900s, the whole mill was modernized, which brought up the number of workers to 600, the number of paper machines to three, and the total installed power to 3500 horsepower. Then in the 1930s, another modernization came - the third paper machine was replaced with a modern one, which was in use until the mill stopped operating. All this required more power, so a new steam turbine was installed. After WW2, it became apparent that the old boilers were not up to the hustle, and a new boiler was installed (in fact, it was used, came from Germany, and was a part of reparations). This is, as far as I know, the current state of the power plant. Turbine from the 1930s, two old boilers, and one slightly newer one. In the 50s, paper machine 4 (the newest one) was fully refurbished and some repairs and upgrades were done on paper machines 1 and 2. In the 60s, a water treatment plant was built, and sometime later work was done to limit the amount of released fly ash. After that, the history is a bit convoluted, but in the 2000s it was acquired by the current owner and production started on paper machine 4. Then it stopped - from what I could find, the mill struggled to stay financially solvent. Some court documents suggest that it went into bankruptcy, then went through a restructuring and continued operating. They got fined for burning unsuitable fuel in the boilers - they were supposed to use heavy fuel oil, but the regulations are rather strict about the maximum permissible sulfur content, which they exceeded quite significantly. Very soon after that, the paper mill was shut down.
Explore
I would call our explore tedious. When we arrived we immediately noticed the activity - trucks going back and forth, dumping stuff. To add an insult to injury, the easy way across a bridge we had to get over was blocked, so we had to do some climbing to get inside. Moreover, the bridge was partially visible to the trucks driving around, but careful timing solved this issue. Then it was smooth sailing - we tried the old way inside the boiler house, didn't manage to find the stairs in the basement, and fell back on our plan B - going around the building, trying to find a hole. Plan B worked out well, no doubt thanks to the slowly progressing demolition works, and we got inside the boiler house. From there we went to the turbine hall, admired the decay, took photos, moved back to the boiler house, took photos, and bailed out. We deemed a venture into the paper machine building as too risky considering the trucks and people on the ground. The main point was the power plant anyway, and we had a bunch of locations lined up for the day, so an unnecessary delay would not be welcome. Some more timing on our part solved the bridge issue and some quick thinking saved us from the eyes of nearby cyclists. So in the end none of the half-a-year-old info I got from my friend proved to be useful, but we managed.
I struggled a bit with the photos of the turbine hall - the light was merciless, and the only saving grace was the fact that I decided to use seven-shot bracketing. You may notice some funky light in the photos.
Close-ups of the Skoda turbine in what used to be metallic green.
Close-ups of the old Skoda turbine.
The turbine controls with a bit of greenery.
The boiler house.
Thanks for reading.
History
Now for some history - the paper mill was reportedly opened in the 1840s. In the following years, it was expanded. It had three water wheels and one 20-horsepower steam engine. Afterwards, it was sold and a new paper machine was installed. The mill switched to wood as the primary input, whereas before it used clothing material. Then in the early 1900s, the whole mill was modernized, which brought up the number of workers to 600, the number of paper machines to three, and the total installed power to 3500 horsepower. Then in the 1930s, another modernization came - the third paper machine was replaced with a modern one, which was in use until the mill stopped operating. All this required more power, so a new steam turbine was installed. After WW2, it became apparent that the old boilers were not up to the hustle, and a new boiler was installed (in fact, it was used, came from Germany, and was a part of reparations). This is, as far as I know, the current state of the power plant. Turbine from the 1930s, two old boilers, and one slightly newer one. In the 50s, paper machine 4 (the newest one) was fully refurbished and some repairs and upgrades were done on paper machines 1 and 2. In the 60s, a water treatment plant was built, and sometime later work was done to limit the amount of released fly ash. After that, the history is a bit convoluted, but in the 2000s it was acquired by the current owner and production started on paper machine 4. Then it stopped - from what I could find, the mill struggled to stay financially solvent. Some court documents suggest that it went into bankruptcy, then went through a restructuring and continued operating. They got fined for burning unsuitable fuel in the boilers - they were supposed to use heavy fuel oil, but the regulations are rather strict about the maximum permissible sulfur content, which they exceeded quite significantly. Very soon after that, the paper mill was shut down.
Explore
I would call our explore tedious. When we arrived we immediately noticed the activity - trucks going back and forth, dumping stuff. To add an insult to injury, the easy way across a bridge we had to get over was blocked, so we had to do some climbing to get inside. Moreover, the bridge was partially visible to the trucks driving around, but careful timing solved this issue. Then it was smooth sailing - we tried the old way inside the boiler house, didn't manage to find the stairs in the basement, and fell back on our plan B - going around the building, trying to find a hole. Plan B worked out well, no doubt thanks to the slowly progressing demolition works, and we got inside the boiler house. From there we went to the turbine hall, admired the decay, took photos, moved back to the boiler house, took photos, and bailed out. We deemed a venture into the paper machine building as too risky considering the trucks and people on the ground. The main point was the power plant anyway, and we had a bunch of locations lined up for the day, so an unnecessary delay would not be welcome. Some more timing on our part solved the bridge issue and some quick thinking saved us from the eyes of nearby cyclists. So in the end none of the half-a-year-old info I got from my friend proved to be useful, but we managed.
I struggled a bit with the photos of the turbine hall - the light was merciless, and the only saving grace was the fact that I decided to use seven-shot bracketing. You may notice some funky light in the photos.
Close-ups of the Skoda turbine in what used to be metallic green.
Close-ups of the old Skoda turbine.
The turbine controls with a bit of greenery.
The boiler house.
Thanks for reading.
