Nanticoke station’s twin chimneys demolished

A large plume of dust and dirt filled the air after two giant chimneys at the Nanticoke Generating Station were demolished Wednesday morning.

The 198-metre high stacks were built in the early 1970s and have been a landmark along the north shore of Lake Erie.

The Nanticoke Generation plant once employed as many as 650 people and, at one time, was the largest coal-fired power plant in North America.

In 2013, the plant burned its last piece of coal and two years later the Ontario Power Generation announced the station would be officially shutdown.

The demolition was supposed to take place at 8:30 a.m. but was pushed back to 11 a.m. due to shifting winds.

“We need southwest winds to bring the stacks down safely,” said OPG spokesperson Neal Kelly. “You want the stacks to come down exactly where the demolition team wants them to go.”

The public was being asked to stay at least 500 metres away from the area on land and at least 1,000 metres away on Lake Erie.

A new 44-megawatt solar farm is set to built on the site.

Exclusion Zone around the #NanticokeStacks shown here; 500m around it on land and 1km into Lake Erie. OPP to start shutting roads down at around 10am. @CHCHNews @morninglive pic.twitter.com/2zBpsTo1Zt

— Diana Weeks (@dweeks_CHCHnews) February 28, 2018