Klaipėdos elektrinė - public power plants operating in the city of Klaipėda - Klaipėda Central Power Plant (1900-1930) and Klaipėda Thermal Power Plant (operating since 1929), which in 1945-1951 was called "Klaipėda Energy District", in 1951-1987 - "Klaipėda State District Electric Power Plant", in 1987-1997 - "Klaipėda Thermal Power Plant", in 1997-2000 - "Klaipėda Energy" SPAB, and from 2000 - "Klaipėda Energy" AB. Some of the buildings at 8 Danės Street, near the Mokyklos Street Bridge, are part of the city's historical heritage
The power plant was put into operation on
June 17, 1929. It was a modern and powerful power plant in those days. The construction of the power station boosted the economic life of the town, providing employment for almost 400 workers. The entire construction cost 8.5 million litas.
1935, the fourth steam boiler with a capacity of 9 t/h and a 5,000 kW turbo-generator were built. The power plant's capacity increased to 9500 kW. In the 1930s, a 15 kV power line was built from the power plant to
Palanga,
Šilutė,
Priekulė. After the plant's new capacity was commissioned, its electricity production started to grow rapidly: from
1930 to
1940, it increased almost 2.5 times.
After the construction of the new Klaipėda thermal power plant, the power plant of the pulp factory was once again used to supply electricity only for the factory's purposes. The pulp mill's technological processes consumed a lot of electricity. Both Klaipėda public power plants had a significant impact on the economic and cultural life of Klaipėda. The production of the old power plant increased slowly until 1924; it was only after the annexation of Klaipėda to Lithuania that it started to increase more rapidly. In 1932, due to the economic crisis, electricity production did not grow, and later, until 1939, the average annual increase in electricity production was between 12 and 13%. Industrial production, and thus electricity production, only declined slightly after Klaipėda was seized by Hitler's
Germany.
At the end of the
WWWII and with the Soviet Army approaching Lithuania, the
Germans ordered that the larger power plants be dismantled and shipped to Germany. The Germans managed to dismantle some of the equipment and remove it from the Klaipėda plant: turbine control elements, bearing covers, pump drives, etc. The excitation generator manifolds and many other small pieces of equipment and apparatus were destroyed by the soldiers. After the town was surrounded,
in January 1945, the Nazis blew up both chimneys of the power station. One of the chimneys collapsed, crushing the boiler bunkers and part of the roof of the engine room. This brought the plant to a standstill, but if it had not been looted it would have been less difficult to rebuild. The Klaipėda pulp mill's thermal power plant was completely destroyed.
