Elektrownia Bobo
THE ABANDONED POWER PLANT IN POLAND
Elektrownia Bobo, or the Bobo thermal power plant, closed in 1976, but it remains a very valuable industrial monument to this day. It powered the Bobo textile factory that produced children’s clothing.
Constructed in 1906, the power plant served the Zakłady Przemysłu Materiałowego Bobo, a company founded in 1835 by Hermann Dietrich Lindheim, a Jewish industrialist from Wrocław. Initially a modern cotton spinning mill, it expanded to include a weaving mill and specialized in producing children’s clothing. Originally, the factory operated solely on hydroelectric power, necessitating the construction of a significant canal in the early 1840s to channel water from over 1.5 kilometers away to the power station.
Between 1904 and 1918, the facility underwent extensive modifications, transitioning from water wheels to Francis turbines coupled with electric generators, culminating in the complete electrification of the plant.
Thermal power plant
In 1906, due to the growing demand for production capacity, a thermal power plant was built. It housed a compound steam engine with two tandem cylinders, a synchronous generator with a flywheel. A second unit, built in 1910, consists of a single-piston steam engine and also a synchronous generator with a flywheel.
Second World War
Between the two world wars, the plant belonged to the Kauffmann family. In the years 1939 – 1945, the plant was partially converted for the production of war equipment, namely radio equipment. The mechanical looms were taken by the Germans to peasant barns and community centers. Eventually after the war in 1945, professionals from Łódź textile factories were brought in to transport, assemble, install and start up the looms in the production halls.
The engine room is an industrial time capsule with control and measurement equipment, control boards and switches. Since 1981, both power plants, water and heat, are under legal protection.
