JEA sets date for final implosion at St. Johns River Power Park

The 640-foot-high smokestack and two boilers will come down on July 19.


  • By Scott Sailer
  • | 4:12 p.m. June 25, 2019
  • | 5 Free Articles Remaining!
The St. Johns River Power Park in North Jacksonville is being demolished.
The St. Johns River Power Park in North Jacksonville is being demolished.
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The 640-foot-high smokestack and two boilers at the St. Johns River Power Park in North Jacksonville will be imploded July 19, JEA said Tuesday in a meeting with the Jacksonville Daily Record editorial staff.

It will mark the third and final implosion at the decommissioned facility at 11201 New Berlin Road.

Last June, two 464-foot-tall concrete cooling towers were brought down. In April, four selective catalytic reactors were destroyed.

The city has not issued a demolition permit for the final implosion.

JEA Managing Director and CEO Aaron Zahn said Tuesday that demolition and remediation of the power park will be complete by the middle of next year.

Zahn said plans for the 2,000-acre site are undetermined, but that the utility will likely keep some of the property for a future generating station and for ash disposal. The Jacksonville Port Authority has been calling about the use of the property, he said.

The St. Johns River Power Park started producing electricity in March 1987. The plant, co-owned by JEA and Florida Power & Light Co., was shut down Jan. 5, 2018.

JEA said closing the plant, which consumed 4.5 million tons of coal a year, reduced its carbon footprint by 30 percent. 

In November, Buffalo-based Total Wrecking & Environmental LLC, led by managing member Frank Bodami, was awarded a $17.73 million contract to demolish the cooling towers and other structures at the power park.

 

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