Eight cooling towers of Telangana’s KTPS imploded

Hyderabad: Eight cooling towers of Kothagudem Thermal Power Station (KTPS) at Palvancha town in Telangana’s Bhadradri Kothagudem district were demolished on Monday through a controlled implosion technique.

The towers built in the 1960s and 1970s were demolished as they outlived their utility.

Over 130-meter-high towers were part of the old units of the KTPS (O&M) complex which was shut down a few years ago.

The demolition was carried out under the supervision of experts from a Jaipur-based company. The process, which had started in January last year, was completed on Monday with the Telangana State Power Generation Corporation Limited (TSGENCO) and district Collector giving their final nod. The authorities ensured adherence to safety protocols.

According to officials four of the towers were built between 1966 and 1967, while the remaining four were constructed between 1974 and 1978.

The towers were part of three stations built with Japanese technology to produce 720 MW of power. These units were replaced by an 800-MW supercritical thermal power station (KTPS stage-VII), which was commissioned in 2018.

KTPS had decided to demolish the cooling towers to use the land for their future operation. Though the tenders were called and the process for demolition started in January 2023, the work was delayed due to the model code of conduct for elections to the state Assembly and later Lok Sabha.

According to officials, a 30-member team started the actual work for demolition a month ago. The process was completed in two phases.

In the first phase, four towers were demolished in ‘A’ station. In the next phase, the remaining towers were razed.

The debris of the demolished towers was being cleared. TSGENCO plans to earn Rs 485 crore by selling the outdated units as scrap.