Iconic fossil fuel smokestacks are being taken down one brick at a time

The iconic chimney stacks standing over the Kwinana industrial area are coming down, although not with quite the same flair as the explosions that blew up the Hazelwood brown coal generator smokestacks in Victoria. 

The chimney stacks in Kwinana belong to the old 900 megawatt (MW) Kwinana fossil fuel power station (it has burned oil, coal and gas), which until its closure in 2015 was Synergy’s second-largest power station in Western Australia.

Today the site, just south of Perth, houses Synergy’s two battery energy storage systems (BESS) and a gas-fired power station, as well as two other gas plants owned by AGL and NewGen.

The neighbouring infrastructure meant the old smokestacks couldn’t be spectacularly blown up, as happened at Hazelwood in 2020 when eight towers were brought down in a series of controlled explosions in a single day. 

The Kwinana job is a touch more difficult. The decommissioning project began in 2016 and will take until 2027 to finish the whole site.

“We are currently in the process of deconstructing the chimney stacks, which involves erecting a state-of-the-art bespoke mast climber platform,” Synergy acting CEO Kurt Baker said in a statement.

“The platform is being used in conjunction with small excavators, to progressively deconstruct the concrete and brick structures inwards which will ensure no impact to the surrounding area.”

The station was built in 1970 as an oil-fired power plant but had to pivot quickly to coal and gas when the 1973 oil crisis hit hard. Oil was added back into the mix in 2005.

But with Synergy’s focus increasingly on beefing up its wind and solar generation, the company is now spending $250 million taking it apart piece by piece.

And it’s not just been the smokestacks which are proving a challenge to bring down. 

Contractor McMahon Services was brought in to dismantle 45 metre-high transfer conveyors, a feat that required large mobile cranes and boom lifts to safely lift down the conveyor sections. 

The company said it removed 15,300m³ of coal, 3,300m³ of asbestos-damaged soils, 6,700 tonnes of concrete and 1,200 tonnes of steel.

Kwinana has had some wins and loses in the last 12 months. 

Alcoa announced it would close the eponymous aluminium factory in August last year and BP has hit the brakes on plans to build out a green hydrogen plant in Kwinana.

But in December a consortium called NeoSmelt won $75 million from the state government to set up a project testing a large scale ironmaking electric smelting furnace to make near-zero emission iron.

And in November Synergy finished its second big battery on the site, a four hour, 200MW BESS, adding to the 100 MW, 200 MWh first stage that was the first big battery to be commissioned on the state’s main grid.