Centrale Électrique HF4
In Marcinelle, a district of Charleroi, you can find the remains of a large steel plant. This blast furnace plant, HF4, worked for over 100 years. One of the many buildings on this site is Centrale Électrique HF4, an old power station. The plant is called wet dogs in the urbex community, after the special smell that is present in the building.
Centrale Électrique HF4 was built to give energy to the blast furnaces. The building is from the early 1900s and still has its original machines. The power station has two big turbines. Each turbine has a rotary converter. These machines changed electricity from AC (alternating current) to DC (direct current). This was important for the motors in the factory. DC motors were easier to control in speed and power. The rotary converters are rare and very big. Today, machines like these are almost gone. They still stand in their original place.
Second hall
These machines gave energy to the whole steel plant. Later, a smaller hall was added to the power station. It gave extra space for more equipment. As the factory grew, the need for power grew too. In the end, this station could not provide enough energy. The site started to use power from the Centrale CCOM Power Station on the other side of the river.
In 2007, Blast Furnace No. 4 started working again after repairs. But in 2008, it stopped due to low demand. The power station was already out of use at that time. In 2012, the entire site closed. More than 1,000 people in Marcinelle lost their jobs.
Steampunk
Today, the power station stands silent. But it still shows the history of coal and steel in Belgium. The building has a strong steampunk look. Sadly, the rotary converters had been partly stripped.
There are no plans for the abandoned power station. It could become a museum. The space is perfect for exhibitions and film screenings. It is part of the industrial past of the region and is worth saving. I visited the Centrale Électrique HF4 in 2019 and 2025. By the last visit, all buildings surrounding the power station and the blast furnace were demolished.
