Michelle Slater
Former Hazelwood Power Station boiler house three was brought down this afternoon in perfect conditions for the demolition which took place at 2pm on the dot.
ENGIE head of corporate affairs Ryan Auger described the demolition as an “absolute success” after principal contractors Delta brought down the structure with explosives.
Mr Auger said demolition crews had worked to remove “a good deal” of coal dust and residual rubber from the boiler house before it was toppled to reduce fire risk and dust.
The boiler house completely folded over itself when the charges went off, leaving a void on the skyline as the dust settled in about three minutes.
“Today we had perfect atmospheric conditions, we always plan for a window and select the best conditions to proceed in that window,” Mr Auger said.
“We have a light south-westerly wind and no cloud cover – it’s a perfect day to proceed.”
Thermal imaging drones were deployed immediately after the blast to monitor for any hotspots and will continue to monitor the site for the next 24 hours.
Fire and dust suppression systems were also put in place in the lead up as a precaution.
Mr Auger said the successful blast fell marked the three-quarter point for the three-year Hazelwood demolition project.
He said the two remaining boiler houses were scheduled to come down by September and a dredger situated in the mine void was due to come down within the next fortnight – conditions pending.
It comes after it took two goes to bring down boiler house four last year, when only a section collapsed, and then a fire then broke out in the remaining structure.
Mr Auger said contractors used less explosives this time.
“We learn from each demolition on how to optimise each placement and volume of the cut charges,” he said.
“Stand ups can be considered inevitable but our measure of success is that it’s done safely, we contain the dust and hazardous material and it’s done completely as we can go back a second time.”
Mr Auger said most of the material from the previous boiler house demolition had been removed or recycled, with crews aiming to leave the site in “pristine condition”.
“The site is directly beside a high quality live transmission infrastructure with 1000 megawatts of unused capacity,” he said.
“This site has unique value because of the transmission, if we put in a battery or future energy project, then this is the spot for it.”
