Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Carmaux coal mine power plant, located in Tarn, Occitanie, was originally built in 1902 by the Société des Mines de Carmaux. This pioneering equipment, subsequently destroyed, marked the beginning of electrification of local mining facilities, responding to the growing energy needs of wells, washbasins, and city workers.

Between 1913 and 1919, a second low-pressure power plant was erected on the same site, mainly by a female workforce — the men being mobilized during the First World War. This choice reflected the demographic constraints of the time while illustrating the adaptation of strategic industries to the circumstances of war. The plant then fed the mining infrastructure (sinks, washers, coking plants) as well as the housing of the miners.

In 1952, a third high-pressure power plant was installed, integrating existing buildings. Modernized, it supplied electricity to four mining wells, a ammonia synthesis plant, and surrounding cities until its decommissioning in 1988. Its architecture, including a engine room and a metal hall, was partially preserved and classified as a Historic Monument in 1990 for its role in regional industrial history.

Today, the disused plant retains an explanatory model of its operation, exposed to Cagnac-les-Mines. The protected elements — facades, roofs, concierge, and fence walls — recall the importance of coal and electricity in the Tarn economy, as well as the working conditions of the miners and workers who worked there.

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