Arthur Koepchen

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Arthur Koepchen (born August 30, 1878 in Velbert ; † May 27, 1954 in Essen-Bredeney ) was the technical director of the then Rheinisch-Westfälische Elektrizitätswerk (now RWE AG ) based in Essen ( Ruhr area ) and shaped the economic sector for almost five decades and technical business development.

Career

After graduating from high school, Koepchen completed an engineering degree from 1899 to 1903 at the Technical University of Karlsruhe . He then worked for the Felten & Guilleaume company in Cologne . From 1906 he worked for Rheinisch-Westfälische Elektrizitätswerk AG, became operations director in 1908, deputy member of the board in 1914 and technical director in 1917.

In his technical role, he was of the opinion that in the long term a secure, economical power supply could only develop within the framework of a supra-regional network , as has become the technical standard. In the years 1927 to 1930, RWE built one of the first two large pumped storage power plants at Hengsteysee near Herdecke , which was later named after its planner Koepchenwerk . With this pumped storage plant, it was possible to guarantee the provision of electrical energy at peak load times and to improve the utilization of the RWE coal-fired power plants.

politics

On May 1, 1933, he joined the NSDAP in Essen with the entire RWE board (No. 3,013,595). In the early days of the regime, RWE and thus Koepchen as an exponent of the major energy suppliers were under pressure. In addition to the pricing policy, the vulnerability of the large energy suppliers during the war was criticized: the north-south line with the main control point in Brauweiler and the golden mine were within range of enemy long-range guns.

Initially, Franz Lawaczeck's plan of the so-called relay river expansion was favored, which envisaged thousands of small power plants in a decentralized manner. Koepchen described this plan in the Essen national newspaper in 1932 as “heresy”. Koepchen was able to gradually enforce his ideas under polemical attacks in the Reichsverband der Elektrizitätsversorgung (REV) founded in 1934 and with his reports. The decree of the Prussian Minister of the Interior of August 1935, which determined the energy supply as a (decentralized) municipal task, was averted by the Energy Industry Act 1935, which laid down the centralized network economy.

Because of the upgrade, the regime was dependent on the power plant capacities of the large energy providers and thus subsequently made incorrect planning of oversized RWE power plants of the 1920s profitable. At the end of the 1930s, Koepchen was increasingly exposed to the risk that the electricity supply would become available. His plans to supply the entire hydropower in West Tyrol to the RWE failed in 1938 due to government intervention. Its 400-kV ring network made up of high-voltage pylons was only partially approved by General Inspector for Water and Energy (GIWE) Fritz Todt in 1942 because of the protection of the alpine landscape and was also subject to an expropriation reservation. Only the successor, Albert Speer , approved the ring network in 1943. His power network planning during the war for a large European economic area got stuck due to the war. The interconnection he planned with Italy did not come about until after the war. The alliance with occupied Norway failed.

family

Arthur Koepchen was married to Marie Koepchen, b. Zollinger. The couple had two daughters and four sons. The eldest son, Hans Koepchen , worked for RWE AG like his father.

honors and awards

literature

  • Josef Buderath:  Koepchen, Arthur. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 365 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Helmut Maier : "National economic model boy" without fortune. Developments in energy policy and RWE in the “Third Reich” , in: Ders. (Ed.): Electricity industry between environment, technology and politics: Aspects from 100 years of RWE history 1898–1998, Freiberg 1999, pp. 129–166.
  • Helmut Maier: Arthur Koepchen (1878-1954) . P. 184–223 in: Wolfhard Weber (ed.): Engineers in the Ruhr area (= Rheinisch Westfälische Wirtschaftsbiographien, Vol. 17). Aschendorff Verlag Münster 1999, ISBN 3402067536
  • Hartmut Prohl: Pioneer Prof. Arthur Koepchen . In: Pulheimer Contributions to History, Yearbook Vol. 27 (2003). ISBN 3927765341

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helmut Maier : "National economic model boy" without fortune. Developments in energy policy and RWE in the “Third Reich” , in: Ders. (Ed.): Electricity industry between environment, technology and politics: Aspects from 100 years of RWE history 1898–1998, Freiberg 1999, p. 132.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Koepchen, Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German manager, technical director of RWE
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Velbert
DATE OF DEATH May 27, 1954
Place of death Essen Bredeney