Video: TVA implodes cooling towers at Paradise Fossil Plant

As part of its ongoing process to clear the Paradise Fossil Plant site, located in western Kentucky, for future use, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) crews and partners safely imploded three roughly 435-foot-tall cooling towers Nov. 10.

TVA is taking a number of steps to return the site to “brownfield” status by around 2030, making way for potential new development. A portion of the site already houses the gas-fired Paradise Combined Cycle Plant, which opened in 2017. TVA also is constructing additional gas-fired combustion turbines at Paradise.

TVA retired Paradise Fossil Units 1 and 2 in 2017. Paradise Unit 3 ceased operation in Feb. 2020, effectively closing the coal-fired plant.

“The decommissioning program directly aligns with TVA’s commitment to environmental stewardship and economic development as we execute safe, environmentally sound and cost-effective projects across TVA’s power service area,” says Charles Chappell, general manager of decommissioning for TVA.

During the next several decades, TVA is investing billions of dollars to build the “energy system of the future,” which will continue to provide, increasingly carbon-free, low-cost and reliable power. This includes new lower-carbon and carbon-free generation facilities, renewable energy, energy innovations and transmission enhancements to better meet the Tennessee Valley’s energy needs, TVA says.

Watch the video of the implosion below, courtesy of TVA: