Gujarat: 85-metre-tall Surat cooling tower demolished through controlled explosion

Surat, Mar 21 (PTI) An 85-metre-tall cooling tower of a power station in Gujarat’s Surat city was demolished on Tuesday through a controlled explosion.

The 30-year-old RCC tower, with a diameter of around 72 metres, of the gas-based Utran Power Station was brought down around 11:10 am.

The structure was pulled down for “techno-commercial reasons”, an official said.
As much as 262.5 kg of commercial explosives were used for demolition, he added.
The tower came down within seven seconds with loud noise, sending up a huge cloud of dust.

Before the demolition, the area around the power station, situated on the banks of the Tapi river, was barricaded to keep people 250-300 metres away from the tower.

The help of experts was taken to set up the explosives, the official said.
“The tower was part of the 135-MW power plant of the Gujarat State Electricity Corporation and was used for cooling purposes. It was 85 metres in height, with a bottom diameter of 72 metres,” said in-charge additional chief engineer R R Patel.
The other plant of 375 MW capacity in the gas-based power plant is up and running, he added.

The razing of the tower, constructed in 1993, became necessary owing to techno-commercial reasons and the approval of the Central Electricity Authority was taken in 2017. In September 2021, the demolition process began, and the boiler, generator, turbine, and transformer were razed, said Patel.