The Tallinn Power Plant () is a former

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

located in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. Construction of the power plant was initiated by Volta company and it was decided by the

Tallinn City Council Tallinn City Council () is the representative body of the municipality of Tallinn, the capital and biggest city of Estonia. The executive power body of Tallinn is the Tallinn City Government. Election The members of the Tallinn City Council are ...

in 1912 after the work of special committee established in 1909. The plant was located next to the Tallinn Gas Factory at the location of the former Stuart fortress. The plant was designed by Volta and the architect was Hans Schmidt. Originally it used three Laval-type

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

s and three

electric generator In electricity generation, a generator, also called an ''electric generator'', ''electrical generator'', and ''electromagnetic generator'' is an electromechanical device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy for use in an externa ...

s—all produced by Volta. Two coal-fired

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centra ...

s were manufactured by AS Franz Krull. The power plant was opened on 24 March 1913, and originally it was fired by

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

. In 1919–1920 the plant was expanded and transferred to

peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...

and wood. In 1924 the power plant was switched to

oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich Granularity, fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of Organic compound, organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general compos ...

. It was the first power plant in the world to employ oil shale as its primary fuel. In 1939, the plant achieved capacity of 22 MW. In 1929, a new turbine hall and in 1932 a new switchboard were commissioned. In 1941, the power plant was destroyed by leaving Soviet troops but was restored by 1948. A new

flue-gas stack A flue-gas stack, also known as a smoke stack, chimney stack or simply as a stack, is a type of chimney, a vertical pipe, channel or similar structure through which flue gases are exhausted to the outside air. Flue gases are produced when coal, o ...

was built. On 9 October 1959, the plant started to operate as

combined heat and power plant Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to generate electricity and useful heat at the same time. Cogeneration is a more efficient use of fuel or heat, because otherwise- wasted heat from elec ...

providing district heating to Tallinn. In 1965, the plant was switched to

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil (bunker fuel), marine f ...

. The plant ceased electricity production on 2 February 1979. In 1978, the power plant area was used for the

Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (, ; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter of Russian origin. He is widely considered one of the greatest directors in cinema history. Works by Andrei Tarkovsky, His films e ...

's film

Stalker Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance or contact by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring t ...

as the threshold to the Zone. The UN's acronym, which is still visible, was painted on the power plant's flue-gas stack. A memorial plate of the film was set up on the flue-gas stack in 2008. Since 1984, the former power plant boiler house is used as an energy museum. Since 2011, the power plant complex is used for hosting the Tallinn Creative Hub ('' Kultuurikatel'').

Gallery

File:Tallinna Elektrijaama ja gaasijaama 20110424 03.jpg,

Gasometer A gas holder or gasholder, also known as a gasometer, is a large container in which natural gas or town gas (coal gas or formerly also water gas) is natural gas storage, stored near atmospheric pressure at room temperature, ambient temperatures. ...

File:Katlad HR5.jpg, Inside view of the boilerroom. File:Estakaad seest.jpg, Estacade

References

{{Reflist, 33em Energy infrastructure completed in 1913 Energy infrastructure completed in 1920 Oil shale-fired power stations in Estonia Cogeneration power stations in Estonia Coal-fired power stations in Estonia Peat-fired power stations in Estonia Biofuel power stations in Estonia Oil-fired power stations in Estonia Former power stations in Estonia Economy of Tallinn History of Tallinn Buildings and structures in Tallinn 1913 establishments in the Russian Empire

Gallery

See also

References