Garzeweiler mine has been in the center of dramatic events in the recent years. There, you can see the ongoing struggle for cleaner energy and it shows it better than any museum or book. In Garzweiler mine, the old, monster-size mining machines are literally surrounded by more elegant, modern wind turbines. The environment activists are trying to terminate the coal production.
In this post, you will see all the enormous proportions of the Garzweiler open mine and get to know how activists are trying to stop it. You will see the villages, that are about to be erased, giving the place to the mine and the ones that are built as a replacement. And you will see the famous Bagger 288.
Garzweiler mine
In 2007, around 46.2% of German electricity was out of coal production and the figure had been dropping down to 39.6% in 2017 (both, hard and soft brown coal). At the same time, the amount of renewable energy grew from 13.8% to 38.5%. source
There are only a few open mines remaining in Germany and Garzweiler mine is the largest. Renewable energy is becoming cheaper, which puts a lot of pressure on the coal industry. Although the company has a license to run the Garzweiler mine until 2045, it may shut down earlier, because producing energy from coal would not be cost effective.
Bagger 288!
Bagger 288 is famous and I thought I would recognize it when I see. But, although it is the largest machine in the Garzweiler mine, others look just slightly smaller. I only realized that I saw Bagger
Bagger 288 weights 13.5 thousand tons and can process 240 thousand tons of coal a day. It was produced in 1978 and had been the largest land vehicle until 1995 when it gave the first place to 14.2 thousand tons NASA’s transporter.
How does it work?
The company has the right to work out the territory of 114 square kilometers, but the actual area constantly changes.
Dramatic events around Garzweiler mine
The mine has the potential to expand to a much larger territory. This puts pressure on the nearby villages, who would need to resettle. Environmental activists are trying to prevent mine from expansion.
Old villages
Gazweller is the name of the village, that used to be at the place where mine is. As mine “moves”, local villages, that are on the way of the mine are resettled. They are given compensation for their houses and they cannot refuse to relocate.
We visited one of such abandoned villages. Windows and doors are closed up and there is no one around. Almost no one, we actually saw a group of people exploring the area and someone, who looked like security.
New villages
The new villages look very well built, but it doesn’t hold the authenticity of the old villages.
Another thing I was told – there is a social pressure to get larger apartments. If you live in the same house your grandparents lived – no one would tell you it is small. But for the new ones, people tend to add a credit to the money they received as compensation and buy something larger. But bigger house and loan don’t necessarily make them happier.
Protests
The coal industry is under constant pressure by environmental activists. There have been cases, when they got to the mine territory, trying to damage the machines and in this way stop the production. The machines have to run 24/7 and any problem in the production chain can make
At the moment I am writing this post, the mine is planning to expand onto the territory of one nearby forest. The protesters stay there 24/7. They build houses on the trees and getting ready to do what they can to stop the expansion.
The future
In Germany, prices for energy constantly change during the day. The coal industry gets more profit when there is no sun and no wind. I didn’t do any sort of research but randomly asked the people about what they think. Some told, that the coal mine acts as a buffer when there is not enough energy coming from renewable sources. Some tell that coal mine is not anymore needed and renewable sources cover the needs.
But despite different opinions, most people agree, that the mine would be closed in the next few years. It has to run 24/7, which makes it much less flexible than renewable energy. Environmental and ethical issues related to relocation add up to the situation.
When mine is closed, the company has to put all the excavated earth back to the same level and instead of extracted coal volume – there would be a lake. We live in the time when we can witness these last, state-of-art machines at work. They are about to give their place to the new ones. I just hope that similarly to Industrial Heritage sites in Ruhr, they will leave the Bagger 288 as a monument to the passing era.
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