Energy Hill Georgswerder

The former landfill site in Georgswerder was transformed into a renewable energy hill and an attractive landscape structure. From wind power and solar energy alone, the Energieberg Georgswerder now provides roughly 4,000 households with electricity, and has also served as a viewpoint since 2013. The project is a contribution to IBAIBA Internationale Bauausstellung Hamburg’s guiding theme of “Cities and Climate Change”.

The Georgswerder landfill caused one of the biggest environmental scandals in Germany in the 1980s and had a significant impact on developments in the Georgswerder district. Many people moved away, and the stigma of pollution and poison still hangs over the quarter. After the war, the flat meadows north-east of Wilhelmsburg were used to pile up rubble and domestic waste, with toxic industrial waste added later. The IBA process succeeded in finding a balance between the special safety requirements for the landfill and the use of the hill for the district. While the hill had already been used to generate electricity with wind turbines for some time, IBA Hamburg was the first to turn it into an energy hill in cooperation with HAMBURG ENERGIE, as well as making it accessible to the public. In 2011, a new, larger wind turbine and a photovoltaic system were installed. The previously inaccessible 45-hectare space was secured and developed as a public “information landscape” and viewpoint. In an international design competition, the idea of a horizon path came out on top. It offers an impressive view of the city. An information centre reports on the transformation of the toxic environmental burden to a production site for renewable energies. Since 2014, the Energieberg Georgswerder has been operated by Hamburg’s municipal street cleaning company, Stadtreinigung Hamburg.