THE CLOUD FACTORY - Digna Sinke

duration: 48 min.

Logline:

For more than 25 years, the chimney of the Amsterdam coal plant was a landmark. In 2019, the Dutch government decided in the context of the energy transition to shut down the plant at the end of that year. It would still be 6 years before the 175 more high chimney would be scrapped.

Synopsis:

In the spring of 2019, the Dutch government took the rather unexpected decision that the coal-fired power plant, centrally located in the western port area of Amsterdam, would close at the end of that year. A first big step towards reducing CO2 emissions in the Netherlands.
Vattenfall owned the plant. An Open Day was organized in September. Everyone who worked there was allowed to invite family members or friends to show their workplace. Never before had something like this happened. It was a first farewell ritual.
The installation was still in operation at the time.  Employees showed their guests around the maze of gigantic buildings, proud fathers explained to their children how a turbine works.
Six years later, only the skeleton of the boiler house remained, and the demolition of the chimney began.
The end of an era. The chimney of Hemweg 8, once ‘the cloud factory’ with its beautiful white plume, is no longer a landmark.