PERU – Large sections of the coal-fired power plant in Peru were razed last week after crews started the first large-scale push to demolish the century-old facility.
Crews work to disassemble the smokestack last month jutting from Peru's coal plant. Photo provided.
The move comes after the Peru Utility Board in November approved a $2.84-million contract for the immediate demolition of the building, parts of which were constructed in 1911 at the site located at 335 E. Canal St. along the Wabash River.
The city-run facility had stopped producing electricity more than three years ago after officials said it was too expensive to update the plant to comply with more stringent rules from the Environmental Protection Agency regulating air emissions.
The demolition contract was awarded to National Salvage and Service Corporation, a company based in Bloomington, Indiana, which specializes in tearing down industrial sites such as power plants and bridges.
Peru Utilities General Manager Joshua Chance said crews have spent months removing equipment, clearing out asbestos and tearing off the exterior of the buildings in preparation for the first major demolitions of the facility last week.
That included razing the power plant’s main structure, control room and large boiler, which were pulled to the ground on Thursday, kicking up a thick, black cloud of dust.
Chance said Monday the facilities main building is now 60-percent demolished. The coal bunker, which housed the tons of coal that fed the plant, is 80-percent complete.
He said one of the next big projects will be tearing out two pump houses along the Wabash River, which will entail demolishing the units without digging into the river.
That undertaking will require National Salvage to receive permits from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, and possibly the Army Corps of Engineers, since there’s a possibility of concrete getting into the water.
“It’s a little more involved because of how particular they have to be,” Chance said.
Crews work to disassemble machinery inside the Peru coal plant. All asbestos and hazardous materials have been removed from the buildings. Photo provided.
Crews are now on track to have the entire facility demolished by the first week of December, putting the project about eight months ahead of schedule.
“It’s gone extremely well,” Chance said. “We’ve had no injuries or broken pipes. We’ve had no instances where we can complain in the slightest. National Salvage has been very professional. We couldn’t have picked a better contractor.”
He said once the demolition is complete, the site will be turned into a greenspace and set aside for future use by Peru Utilities, which will retain ownership of the land.
“We’re trying to figure out what we’re going to do it,” Chance said. “When we have a need for it, we’ll use it.”
The coal plant was the sole supplier of electricity in Peru until the 1970s, when the utility also began to purchase power from Duke Energy, according to the former Peru Utility General Manager Roger Merriman.
He said in a previous interview the city began purchasing power in 1983 from the Indiana Municipal Power Agency, which is its current supplier, but continued to produce its own electricity to sell to the IMPA.
The plant was most recently used to generate electricity that was sold on the market, with the profits going to the city’s utility.
Merriman said the facility stopped doing that more three years ago after a sharp decline in energy prices, and hasn’t produced any electricity since then.
Although the Peru Utility Board determined it made the most sense financially to tear down the plant, the century-old facility will be missed, Chance said.
“It’s sad in a way,” he said. “It’s been in the community since the early 1900s. At the same time, we have to move on as a community and how we generate power, so this is kind of the next step. But the skyline of Peru will forever be changed.”
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