Lithgow’s iconic Wallerawang coal-fired power station partly demolished

One of NSW’s oldest coal-fired power stations has been partly demolished to make way for a new renewable energy hub.

One of NSW’s oldest coal-fired power stations has been partly demolished to make way for a new renewable energy hub.

The two 175-metre tall smokestacks at Lithgow’s iconic Wallerawang Power Station were brought down in a controlled demolition on Wednesday morning.

Wallerawang, located 14km north of Lithgow, was built in 1957 at the height of the Central Tablelands town’s mining boom.

The decommissioned Wallerawang power station near Lithgow. Picture: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

It once employed thousands of locals and supplied up to 15 per cent of the state’s power, the ABC reported.

It was shut down in 2014 and was acquired from Energy Australia last year by Greenspot, a joint venture between two NSW companies, Borg and Bettergrow.

Greenspot plans to turn the location into a renewables hub, requiring the removal of most of the site infrastructure.

Only the turbine hall and adjacent administration building, the coal dome, the small chimney stack and the cooling tower will be retained.

The first project will be a 500 megawatt storage battery. Greenspot plans to turn the 620-hectare site into a business park.

The smoke stacks were demolished on Wednesday. Picture: Channel 7

Greenspot only announced the day and time of the demolition earlier this month to avoid large crowds gathering.

“We understand the significance of the event and that people would like to see the demolition take place,” the company said.

“Members of the public wishing to view the event are encouraged to find a legally accessible elevated vantage point that is well away from the exclusion zone.”

Lithgow mayor Ray Thompson told the ABC when the station closed in 2014, along with the Angus Place Mine, about 600 people lost their jobs.

“None of those jobs have been replaced yet so we see as a council that the repurposing of the Wallewarang Power Station as one of the things that will create a lot of jobs in our town,” he said. “We really can feel a bit of a buzz around our town at the moment.”

Local journalist Alanna Tomazin wrote on Twitter, “A bittersweet moment today watching Wallerawang Power Station’s chimney stacks and boiler be blasted. Greenspot assures it’s the start of something special.”

Originally published as Lithgow’s iconic Wallerawang coal-fired power station partly demolished