Bladerunner 2049 Power Plant, Hungary

Bladerunner 2049 Power Plant is located in Hungary. It supplied electricity for half a decade. The plant closed 10 years ago. Now it stands decaying and rusting. A memory of Hungary’s polluting industry of the 1950s to 1980s. In 2017, several scenes from Bladerunner 2049 were shot here.

We visited the Bladerunner 2019 Power Plant in the winter of 2019. It was an important part of our “Seeing Red” Hungary Tour 2019.

I used some of the photos for digital art as part of my “Cinematic Recolour Project”. In this project, I add smoke and light rays as well as recolour the photos to match the cyan tones of the dystopian Bladerunner movie. You can view the photos and discussion here.

History of Bladerunner 2049 Power Plant (Shepard’s Power Plant)

In the 1950’s, Hungary was pushing to become an important industrial nation. This power plant was part of a “five-year plan”. This plan aimed to drive industrial revolution. The site began initial operation within a year on construction.

Bladerunner 2049 Power Plant experienced difficulties in the early years. The systems failed regularly, leading to frequent power outages. The local coal mines were also unable to keep up with the fuel demand. It became necessary to bring in additional coal by railroad.

Three years later construction of the rest of the site was complete. The electricity produced began to feed the national grid. Subsequently, new boilers were constructed. Now there were seven steam boilers and six steam turbines. At this time, the capacity was 120 MegaWatts.

A gas turbine plant was added to the Bladerunner 2049 Power Plant in the 1970s. These gas turbines have quicker start-up times than their steam counterparts. These rapid spin-up turbines generated additional power during peak times. These turbines increased the capacity of the plant to 165 MegaWatts.

Decline and decommissioning

The Bladerunner 2049 Power Plant became the focus of environmental discussion during the 1980s. The plant produced over 100 tonnes of sulphur dioxide during peak operating days. Changing environmental legislation forced the company to act. They installed ash separators in attempts to curb the pollution.

In the late 1990s, the power plant would began to wind-down production. Firstly, the gas turbines were taken offline. The main steam turbines and boilers continued to operate at around 10% of operational capacity for one more year. Finally, the power plant was shut down around 2000. Decommissioning work began soon after.

The rest of Bladerunner 2049 Power Plant is set to be demolished over the coming years. Presently, there are workers and machines on-site. However, progress appears to be slow. It is possible that the site may survive, just a little longer.