Future of the Jänschwalde power plant: monument protection versus operation

Future of the Jänschwalde power plant: monument protection versus operation

In spring 2025, the Jänschwalde power plant was officially placed under monument protection. This decision is reflected in the state of Brandenburg's efforts to preserve the power plant and the neighboring Schwarze Pumpe briquette factory as important evidence of Lusatia's industrial history. The state, which is represented by Culture Minister Manja Schüle, is currently planning to conclude negotiations on the concrete implementation of monument protection. However, Leag, the operator of the power plant, is concerned that the property may be converted into a museum, which could endanger the operational framework. Schüle emphasizes that the transformation into the future must be supported and that no pure museum should be created when coal mining ends in 2028.

A public law contract, to be signed this year, will clarify the use of the power plant and the briquette factory. The contractual partners are Leag, the State Office for Monument Preservation and the State Archaeological Museum and the Spree-Neiße district. The aim is to ensure legally secure agreements on operation, conversion, maintenance and transformation. Minister Schüle assures that monument protection and the use of industrial facilities should be brought into line and that modernization is fundamentally possible. This agreement could serve as a model for other monuments that remain in operation, similar to VW in Wolfsburg or the Bayer works in Leverkusen, as [Süddeutsche] reports.

Monument protection and operational challenges

The CEO of Leag, Adolf Roesch, expressed skepticism regarding the definition of monument protection and called for more intensive discussions on controversial points in order to find constructive solutions. Uwe Teubner, chairman of the Leag works council, also emphasizes that the future plan cannot only provide for museum use. The transformation must also make practical perspectives comprehensible for the workforce, which is underlined by the planned large-scale battery storage facility in Jänschwalde.

Since the beginning of 2023, the list of monuments in Brandenburg has included the Jänschwalde power plant and the Schwarze Pumpe briquette factory. In addition, bucket chain excavators were added to the Welzow-Süd opencast mine in April 2025. These objects are not only technological relics, but also part of the cultural heritage to be researched in the region. The background to these efforts is the aim of the Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media to comprehensively document and preserve the mining-related cultural landscape in Lusatia.

Supraregional perspectives

In addition, the recording of the mining-related cultural landscape in Saxony's lignite mining areas is the focus of a joint project by the Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation and the Saxony State Office for Archeology. This project, supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media, aims to preserve the identity-forming structural and technical witnesses of the coal and energy age. The recording projects completed in this context are intended to form the basis for future usage concepts and promote the preservation of the industrial heritage.

A common challenge that affects both Brandenburg and Saxons is to accompany the structural change in regions affected by the coal phase -out. This goal has launched the Kohleregions, which came into force in August 2020, in order to redesign rural areas in the face of change.