Biomass Energy Park Hugo
Former mining area now used for green energy production
Structural concept Biomassenergy Park Hugo (Source: lohrberg stadtlandschaftsarchitektur, Stuttgart)
Former coal mine Hugo 2/5/8 in Gelsenkirchen
The pilot project "Biomass Energy Park Hugo" is currently being realized in Gelsenkirchen-Buer on the area of the former coal mine Ewald/ Hugo. After closing down numerous coal mines RAG Montan Immobilien was looking for innovative solutions to use the fallow land efficiently. They found something in regard to energy business: the production of biomass energy.
For a total of 130 years cole was produced in the mine and the first shaft was sank already in 1873.
In 2000 the mine was closed down and the buildings and equipment were partially removed. The mining law proceedings contain the decontamination both of the ground and the ground-water. In the course of the reconstruction measures the area is being prepared for the cultivation of lumber. The area available for biomass production is 22 ha large and is located in a swale. At first it is to be covered with 2 - 3 m of soil to ensure an adequate rooted zone and to increase the water absorption. On the one hand these are important criteria for the biomass growth potential, on the other hand the rainfall into the ground-water is drastically reduced. This amounts to the ground-water decontamination measures. Afterwards the total area is planted with different forest species. This is going to be a sample area on which cottonwood and willows are prefered but different species are tested. The location will gradually be arranged in 2 or 3 working fields. The border areas are to be planted with hedges, higher quality forest species and bushes. Otherwise the former industrial site would have been changed into a low qualiy green space, but now it is being upgraded and managed by a renter.
The project is scientifically guided and realized in close collaboration of "RAG Montan Immobilien GmbH", "RAG Aktiengesellschaft", the "Ministerium für Umwelt und Naturschutz", agriculture and consumer protection NRW and the "Regionalforstamt Ruhrgebiet". Together they are analyzing if and how these sites can be integrated in the townscape and lead back into the economic cycle by producing biomass energy. Because such fallow areas are located directly in the cities, it is absolutely necessary to integrate them into the neighborhood. Therefore an important element of the project is to check if these areas can be linked to their surroundings by adequate city- and landscape planning, e.g. ecological compensation and a network of walkways. The first results from Hugo are being used to promtly develop further biomass locations.