Typisch bremisch Typically “Bremish”

gether nine wind turbines and the Weser hydroelectric
power station. This volume of electricity not only assures
100 percent power supplies for the federal state of Bremen
but also leaves enough surplus for exporting power.
It was in 1854 that Bremen’s public energy supply was
born. The first steam locomotive already rolled into
Bremen station on 12 December 1847. To illuminate this
event in a fitting manner, the first gas lanterns were lit up
in two city streets and at the station. It was then on 23
September 1854 that Bremen’s first gasworks started operation
on Bremer Bürgerweide right next to the station.
When the waterworks with the monumental neo-gothic
tower on Stadtwerder was completed at the end of 1873,
a general water pipe supplied the city’s population with
treated river water. By 1983, the increasing contamination
of the river Weser put an end to the water treatment ac -
tivities. Today, Bremen procures about 80 percent of its
drinking water as groundwater from Lower Saxony and 20
percent from its own pumps in Bremen-Nord.
By 1933, already 95 percent of Bremen’s households were
connected to the power grid. After World War Two, it took
four years for the power supply to be fully restored again.
The economic miracle of the post-war years saw huge increases
in the power requirements of the companies, and
the city utility company expanded its capacities accordingly.
1998 launched the phase in which Bremen utility company
started to expand beyond the city boundaries. The
liberalisation of the energy markets which demanded that
the grids were opened up for other providers resulted in
swb being turned into a stock corporation in 1999.
Together with many local authorities, the Free Hanseatic
City of Bremen used this liberalisation phase to improve its
financial situation. In 2000 it sold 51 percent of its swb
shares to the Essent Group from Lower Saxony; a further
package was taken over later on by EWE.
The liberalisation of the power markets also triggered a
comprehensive consolidation processes among the
energy utilities; as a result, by 2009 EWE AG from Oldenburg
had acquired 100 percent of Bremen’s swb – less one
share, which ensured that the city retained a certain say in
the further development of the company. But decisions
are now taken in Oldenburg. EWE is one of Germany’s
largest energy companies. It is owned by local authorities
in Lower Saxony. The company operates not just in the region
but also in Germany’s new federal states, in Poland
and in Turkey.
Weser hydroelectric power station in operation
Hydroelectric power stations are seen as the most climatefriendly
way of generating electricity. They function not
just in Scandinavia. A hydroelectric power station was
already constructed back in 1911 with the weir on the
river Weser at Hastedt. Operation ceased in 1987 and the
power station was demolished. The barrage had to be
replaced to improve the flood defences; anyway, the old
hydroelectric power station was no longer efficient
enough. But the growing criticism of nuclear power stations
and the search for regenerative energy sources soon
triggered an initiative to reconstruct the hydroelectric
power station. Initially it was planned with citizens’ par -
ticipation, but it proved difficult to organise the necessary
financial aspects.
In 2001, swb AG sold the rights to generate energy from
the water of the river Weser to Enercon. But meanwhile
the city’s energy supply company started to rethink the
situation. Together with Enercon, swb founded the operating
company Weserkraftwerk Bremen in 2008. At the end
of 2011, almost exactly 100 years after the old hydroelectric
power station started up, trial operations began in the
new facility. Since March 2012 the hydroelectric power
station on the river Weser has been in regular service and
produces on average 40 million kilowatt hours of electricity
each year with the two five megawatt Enercon turbines.
That is sufficient to keep 16,000 households supplied
with electricity, while saving 35,000 tonnes of greenhouse
gas every year. With the river Weser and the North
Sea, water has a double role to play when it comes to
generating energy for the State of Bremen.
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