Pruning work on the Brüchau plant
Neptune Energy begins pruning work at the Brüchau mining waste disposal facility. Following the approval of the requested amendment to the final operating plan for incapsulation by the Saxony-Anhalt State Office for Geology and Mining (LAGB) in August 2025, these are the first visible measures at the facility.
The pruning work includes clearing the site of emerged vegetation, including mowing and shortening the reed belt. Due to the start of the breeding and setting season, the work must be completed before 1 March. The pruning serves to protect the existing population and is necessary at regular intervals.
Neptune Energy is still in the tendering process for the necessary engineering services. According to current planning, the contract is to be awarded in 2026 and implementation of the measures is to begin, although this is dependent on the outcome of the legal proceedings relating to BUND's complaint.
Detailed planning will then begin so that implementation of the first construction phase can probably start in 2027.
Questions & Answers
What happens in the first construction phase?
Once the award procedures have been completed, the landfill material will be pre-treated (conditioned) and relocated to temporary sections of the facility in construction phase 1 from 2027 at the earliest. Conditioning involves mixing and stabilising the material so that free water is bound in the predominantly sludgy landfill and the material becomes transportable. This is the prerequisite for all further processing steps, regardless of the subsequent procedure.
Are irreversible facts being created in the first construction phase?
For a permanently safe solution, it is necessary to condition the landfill. This does not create irreversible facts, but rather the prerequisites for making the material technically controllable and enabling subsequent processing and relocation. Conditioning ensures that the material retains an earth or soil-like structure without creating a concrete-like material state.
What condition is achieved by conditioning the material?
During conditioning, a limited quantity of cement-based conditioning agents is added to the landfill. The maximum amount added is up to 10 per cent by weight. This solidifies the material without creating a concrete-like solid.
After treatment, the conditioned material has an earth or soil-like structure, is transportable, no longer contains any free liquids and can be safely stacked in interim storage up to a minimum height of 3 metres.
About Neptune Energy
Neptune Energy is one of the leading raw materials companies in Germany. With over 135 years of experience, we secure supplies for industry and society. Our goal: Today we produce what counts tomorrow. Around 480 employees in many regions of Germany and at our headquarters in Hanover are involved in three key areas of activity
Base - Gas & Oil: safe and reliable production of domestic energy raw materials
Balance - Plugging and abandonment: taking responsibility for the past and restoring nature
Boost - New Energy: actively shaping the future, for example with lithium from Germany
This is how we combine experience with progress. Neptune Energy's revenue in the 2024 financial year was €440 million. The total annual production of gas and oil was 5.5 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe).
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