Go-Ahead Given For Morwell Power Station Demolition

Image: Heritage Council Of Victoria

While recently heritage-listed, the Heritage Council Of Victoria has granted permission for owners of the defunct Morwell Power Station to demolish it.

Back in February we reported the Energy Brix Power Station (aka Morwell Power Station) had been earmarked for destruction, but was granted a temporary reprieve after the Heritage Council of Victoria granted it heritage listing.

It was a decision that caused a great deal of controversy.

The Power Station’s owners continued to pursue permission for demolition, and yesterday it was provided. A number of conditions are associated with the permit, including significant equipment and machinery must be offered to local cultural institutions. Other conditions also involve the preservation of historic material or suitable recording of it.

The permit covers four chimneys and ancillary structures including the control room and transmission yard, machinery and plant including boilers, burners and turbines. Also included are amenities buildings, chemicals laboratory and sites of the former cooling towers and offices.

The permit doesn’t include the demolition of the briquette factories or their ancillary buildings.

The permit gives Energy Brix two years to commence the demolition and four years to complete it. The company seems pretty motivated given a buyer is in the wings, but they do have a substantial hurdle to clear.

There had been a push to preserve the buildings, but this would involve costly repairs and some contain a toxic legacy – more than 10,000m3 of asbestos, an issue that will need to be handled carefully during the demolition process.

Late last month, Energy Brix was granted approval by the EPA for construction of a type 3 landfill for the acceptance of asbestos waste  for a site near Morwell, however, the ABC reports Latrobe City Council has denied Energy Brix’s asbestos dump application. This means the waste may have to be transported through Melbourne.

It would be nice to report that once cleaned up, the site will be converted to a wind or solar farm, but Energy Brix has previously stated it has a buyer lined up who wants to produce high value coal products.

Northern Power Station Stack To Topple

While on the topic of demolishing coal power stations, the 200 metre- high iconic northern stack at Northern Power Station at Port Augusta, South Australia is due for demolition next month. In April, the power station’s 47m high, 3,000-tonne steel coal bunker was demolished using explosive charges.

The Northern Power Station demolition and cleanup has been a huge undertaking and not without a raft of issues.

Unlike what will be the case when wind and solar farms once they reach the end of their useful life, the problems coal power leaves behind go on well after a plant has belched its last tonne of carbon dioxide and toxins into the atmosphere.