On March 21, at Surat, Gujarat, an 85-metre-tall cooling tower of a power station has been demolished 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 within 20 seconds at around 11:10 am.
The 135-megawatt plant had been old and was supposed to be demolished. Demolition of the cooling tower, which was constructed in 1993, became necessary owing to techno-commercial reasons – for which the approval of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) was taken in 2017. The entire power plant demolition process began in September 2021. The boiler, generator, turbine, and transformer were razed in phases in due course.
The old Utran Gas Based Power Station is located at the bank of Tapi River near Surat city, in Surat district of Gujarat. The power plant was one of the gas based power plants of Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited. The Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) power plant was developed in multiple phases. Post completion of construction, the project got commissioned in July 2009. It generated 955,000 MWh of electricity
