Munmorah Power Station boiler demolition goes without a hitch
VIDEO: A ten second count down, a muffled explosion and shockwave, and one of the heaviest structures ever demolished in Australia lay in a dusty heap.
Central Coast
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A TEN second count down, a muffled explosion and shockwave, and one of the heaviest structures ever demolished in Australia lay in a dusty heap.
The demolition of Munmorah Power station continued today with the controlled explosion of the 32,200 tonne boiler and coal hopper complex.
The 60 metre high complex fell in seconds in what site owners Generator Property Management are describing as a “textbook” demolition went exactly according to plan.
The demolition of the structure used an engineered collapse technique which pre-weakened the building before controlled explosions bought it down.
Before the dust had even settled trucks were lined up to begin taking away the scrap metal for recycling.
Demolition experts Liberty Industrial have been systematically demolishing the redundant power station since 2016.
Its iconic chimney stacks were detonated in March last year, changing the Central Coast’s northern skyline forever.
Generator Property Management General Manager Stephen Saladine said that soon no sign of the power station would be visible from Budgewoi.
“That’s a big change,” Mr Saladine said.
Previously two other boilers were demolished and the only major structure still to be removed is the turbine house building.
The former Delta Electricity coal power station at Colongra, at its peak, had a power generation capacity of 1400 megawatts.
It was closed in 2012 and decommissioned in 2014.
The demolition project aims to eliminate the risks associated with deterioration of the station, improve the visual impact of the surrounding environment and maximise the re-use and recycling of materials removed from site.
Delta Electricity which operated the plant said the ageing infrastructure and cost of operation meant that it was no longer economically viable to compete against newer and more efficient plants.
Demolition expert Liberty Industrial is managing the station’s demolition.
The Munmorah plant is on a 750-hectare parcel of land, which the Baird government has transferred to the state-owned — Generator Property Management.
Managing director Steve Saladine has previously indicated the site could be suitable for heavy industry or manufacturing, but some groups believe the area should be returned to public ownership or community facilities.