On the banks of the Rhine once stood Kraftwerk Voerde, for decades one of the largest coal-fired power stations in Europe. Commissioned in the early 1970s, the site expanded in several phases into a vast complex with four major units and a total capacity of more than 2,000 MW. Its riverside location enabled large-scale coal deliveries and cooling, while towering chimneys and a massive cooling tower came to dominate the surrounding landscape.

For many years the plant supplied electricity to millions of households and industries across western Germany. Changing energy markets, stricter environmental regulations, and the national coal phase-out ultimately led to its shutdown in 2017. Since then, the site has been steadily dismantled: equipment was removed and iconic structures, including the cooling tower, were taken down. What remains is a large industrial area in transition, where the legacy of heavy power generation is giving way to new plans and future uses.