Ontario is site of latest coal plant demo

Implosion part of process to take down former Lambton Generation Station.

sarnia plant demo
The power plant in Sarnia, Ontario, operated from 1969 to 2013.
Image courtesy of Delsan-AIM and Ontario Power Generation.

The smokestacks of a coal-powered energy plant in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, were taken down in mid-February as part of the process to demolish a 50-year-old power plant.

The website of The Observer, based in Sarnia, says the implosion occurred on Saturday, Feb. 11., with three smokestacks and a boiler at the former Lambton Generating Station all brought down by the explosives.

The former Lambton Generating Station began burning coal to make electricity in 1969 and shut down in 2013, following the province’s decision to phase out coal power.

The newspaper says the coal-fired plant operated from 1969 to 2013. It quotes an Ontario Power Generation spokesperson saying its takedown represents “the end of an era” for large coal-powered plants in the province.

The demolition took several years in part, says The Observer, because work by an initial contractor was halted in 2020. More recently Laval, Quebec, Canada-based Delsan-A.I.M Environmental Services was hired to finish the demolition and dismantling process. That company is an operating unit of Montreal-based scrap metal recycling firm American Iron & Metal.

Redevelopment plans for the land, which the paper refers to as a brownfield site, have not been finalized.