UPDATED: Nanticoke stacks felled by Delsan demolition team (new video)

A team of Delsan AIM demolition experts brought down two 200-metre-tall smoke stacks at the former Nanticoke Generating Station on the shores of Lake Erie this morning (Feb. 28), observed by guests, media assembled from across southern Ontario and townsfolk who lined roadways for miles. 

The spectacle occurred at 11 a.m., two-and-a-half hours later than originally scheduled due to erratic wind directions. Ontario Power Generation (OPG) spokesperson Neal Kelly explained the winds had to be coming from the southwest at between 10 and 50 kilometres per hour. 

The stacks dropped parallel to the south side of the OPG powerhouse, the east stack first, falling intact towards the west stack, and the west stack shortly after the east stack fell, encouraged to drop slightly away from the line of the first stack to minimize the spread of debris. 

OPG communications adviser Richard Schwass said the 30-second demolition went as planned, though it was too early to tell whether there had been any debris deposited near a water intake pipe just west of the site. Crews had erected a barrier and installed a protective covering at the intake pipe to minimize the dispersal of debris.

Delsan AIM used dynamite to execute the job and the blast waves were felt by onlookers gathered 500 metres away on the plant’s East Dock at a private viewing area. 

Nanticoke was at one time the largest coal-fired generating station in the world. The provincial government ban on coal power resulted in the closing of all of Ontario’s coal-fired plants, the last in 2014. The Nanticoke station burned its last coal on Dec. 31, 2013.

The Nanticoke station site is being redeveloped as a 44-megawatt solar plant in conjunction with the Six Nations of the Grand Development Corporation.

“The change of OPG’s Nanticoke site from harmful coal to a new, green solar farm mirrors the transformation of Ontario’s electricity sector,” said Mike Martelli, OPG’s president of renewable generation and power marketing, in an address shortly before the demolition.

The powerhouse on the site will be demolished in the spring of 2019.

The Daily Commercial News will have more on this story. Check dcnonl.com for more updates.