Wesseling

The chain of the place

1. 01

   Crude oil: Crude oil arrives by pipeline from Rotterdam and Wilhelmshaven.

2. 02

   Distilling: In the column it is heated and separated by boiling point: gas, petrol, kerosene, diesel, heating oil.

3. 03

   Storing: Hundreds of tanks store crude, intermediate and finished products.

4. 04

   Shipping out: Rhine ships and pipelines carry the products to depots, filling stations and industry.

5. 05

   Hydrogen: The electrolyser makes hydrogen from electricity and replaces hydrogen from natural gas.

6. 06

   Conversion: Since March 2025 Wesseling no longer processes crude; a base-oil plant is to follow by 2028.

What is shown – why – for whom

Facilities and areas in the model

• Werk Godorf (Werk Nord)

  Crude distillation in Godorf continues, recently about 9.8 million tonnes of crude a year (2024). It yields petrol, diesel, kerosene, heating oil and feedstock for chemistry.

• Werk Wesseling (Werk Süd)

  Until March 2025 Wesseling processed about 7.5 million tonnes of crude a year. Since then the plant has been crude-free.

• Rohöldestillation D500

  This is where processing started: crude is heated and split by boiling point in the column. Unit D500 was shut down in mid-March 2025 (position schematic).

• Refhyne I

  Europe's largest PEM electrolyser at the time, 10 MW, since July 2021: about 1,300 t of green hydrogen a year, replacing fossil hydrogen in the refinery (position OpenStreetMap).

• Refhyne II construction site

  100 MW, investment decision in July 2024, under construction since late 2024, start planned for 2027: up to 44 t of hydrogen a day (position schematic).

• Tank farms

  Crude, intermediate and finished products are stored in hundreds of tanks. Every tank stands here with its outline from OpenStreetMap and its height from the surface model.

• Umspannwerk Godorf

  110 kV: the refinery needs a lot of power for pumps, compressors and, in future, electrolysis (position OpenStreetMap).

• Station Wesseling

  110 kV, grid connection at the Wesseling plant (position OpenStreetMap).

Processes in the model

How an industrial site can use the model

• Operations and conversion

  Works, column, tank farm, substations and electrolyser on one site: the model shows what continues, what has been shut down and what is being built – from crude oil to hydrogen.

  対象Operators, site and conversion planning

• Municipality and industry

  Time travel shows 1975, 1995, 2021 and 2025: two works, then the first electrolyser, then the end of crude processing in Wesseling. A picture for talks about land, power demand and industrial transformation.

  対象Municipalities, economic development, chambers and associations

• Schools and universities

  What happens in a refinery, and what does it need hydrogen for? The six steps from crude oil via distilling, storing and shipping out to hydrogen and conversion fly to each part.

  対象Teachers, vocational schools, process engineering students

• Exhibitions and visits

  In the fuels view the world turns grey, and oil, gas and hydrogen glow in their colours. Every tank stands with its outline from OpenStreetMap and its height from the surface model.

  対象Exhibitions, plant tours, visitor centres

• Public communication

  How does crude oil reach Cologne and Wesseling, and what leaves by ship? The model shows pipelines, Rhine ships and tanks, from high above down to eye level with cars, lorries and trains.

  対象Public relations, neighbours, policymakers

What you can change

What the model gives an industrial site

• 01

  Industry in the energy system

  The refinery does not stand alone: pipelines from Rotterdam and Wilhelmshaven, 110 kV substations and Rhine ships connect it with the country.

• 02

  Conversion made visible

  Carry on, shut down, build anew: Godorf, Wesseling and the two electrolysers show side by side how a site changes.

• 03

  Every tank in its place

  Every tank of the tank farm stands with its outline from OpenStreetMap and its height from the surface model – hundreds of tanks, no symbols.

• 04

  Five views

  Power, heat, fuels, storage and CO₂ – the same world read five ways, with values right at the plants.

• 05

  In the browser and on the big screen

  A browser is enough, and large projections work too. Eleven more places and the map of Germany are part of the same model, designed by an artist and developer.

• 

  Wilhelmshaven

  Germany’s only deep-water port as a walkable model: crude oil for the pipeline to the Rhineland, coal for two power plants and, since December 2022, liquefied natural gas from Germany’s first LNG terminal.

• 

  Lingen

  The whole nuclear era in one place as a walkable model: the Lingen nuclear plant of 1968, the Emsland nuclear plant until April 2023, interim storage and dismantling – next to them gas, a battery and hydrogen.

• 

  Düsseldorf Lausward

  A combined-cycle gas plant on the Rhine as a walkable model: power to the grid, heat via a 58 m storage tank and the district heating line into the media harbour and the city centre.

• 

  Rhineland lignite district

  The Rhineland lignite district as a walkable model: from the Garzweiler mine via conveyors, boilers and cooling towers into the 380 kV grid – while wind, sun and batteries grow on the reclaimed land.

• 

  Germany 1975–2025

  Fifty years of energy supply on one map: 365 sites, ten grid regions and the power of every hour – from two separate grids in 1975 to wind and sun in 2025.

• 

  Herdecke

  Three generations of storage at Lake Hengstey as a walkable model: the Koepchenwerk of 1930, the pumped-storage plant of 1989 and batteries since 2017 – the level in the reservoir follows sun, wind and demand.

• 

  Datteln 4

  Germany’s newest hard-coal plant as a walkable model: coal by ship on the Dortmund-Ems Canal, power for the grid and the railway, district heat as far as Recklinghausen.

• 

  Paderborn plateau

  One of the densest wind landscapes in North Rhine-Westphalia as a walkable model: every turbine with its year, from the 500 kW turbine of 1995 to the 6.2 MW turbine with a 169 m hub.