Brilliant blipmeet at the power plant

I had been looking forward to today ever since I was invited a couple of days ago by powerplanter to visit his workplace. The powerplant already looks very impressive just from his blipfoto journal, but the size of it just grabs you by the throat from the moment you step out of your car in front of the building. The fact that this plant can provide 25 percent of the electricity needed in the Netherlands should give an indication of its size. It is the biggest gas turbine plant in Europe and at the moment it is the most efficient one too. It has one older unit (EC20) and five newer units (EC3 - EC7). The newer units are together in one building; EC20 is a separate building.

My expectation was that the tour would take maybe about an hour; after all Henk had some work to do too. Boy, was I wrong! It took nearly three hours and Henk assured me I still hadn't seen all of it. I have learned so much about how the plant works and how it converts natural gas into electricity. Henk, it was brilliant and I have enjoyed every minute of it.

I have taken lots of pictures, but I really wanted todays blip to show Henk in his work environment. I hope you don't mind Henk, but if you do just let me know and I'll change the image!

Some runners-up:

The powerplant as seen while driving towards it
Some of the burners that run the turbines of one of the units
View of unit EC20, as seen from the roof of the other units
Spare turbine rotor
Ground level view of unit EC20
Water splashing up at the intake of seawater used for cooling
The Celebrity Eclipse in the Eemshaven. For more info about this cruise ship, check this site.
Old and new windmills

I had a great day; hope you did too! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!