Mainly clear. Low 73F. Winds light and variable..

Mainly clear. Low 73F. Winds light and variable.

Crystal River coal-fired unit 2 opened in 1969. The two units combined provided 103 years of service and generated, on average, 915 megawatts of energy, enough to power 732,000 homes.

Duke Energy’s 1960s-era coal plant at the Crystal River Energy Complex in 2018 before decommissioning started.

Crystal River coal-fired unit 2 opened in 1969. The two units combined provided 103 years of service and generated, on average, 915 megawatts of energy, enough to power 732,000 homes.

The countdown detonation begins at 8 a.m. Saturday.

More than 350 explosives with a force of about 300 pounds will implode two remaining 500-foot-tall stacks at Duke Energy’s 1960s-era Crystal River coal plant in Citrus County. 

One hundred percent of the steel, copper and other metals, along with the concrete, will be recycled. 

Duke Energy’s 1960s-era coal plant at the Crystal River Energy Complex in 2018 before decommissioning started.

Duke spokeswoman Heather Dannenhower calls it the end of an era.

But time and technology changes.

The two-unit coal plant generated 915 megawatts of energy for more than five decades and served 1.9 million Duke customers in Florida. Duke Energy has 47,500 residential customers in Citrus County.

Duke retired the plant in 2018 when its 1,640-megawatt Citrus Combined Cycle Station, a natural gas plant, came online.

The company is retiring coal plants and replacing them with cleaner and more efficient natural gas plants and renewables as part of the company’s clean energy transformation plan. 

“That plan calls for reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieving net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050,” Dannenhower said.

In Florida, the company will have 27 solar plants in service by 2024 — totaling 5 million solar panels and a $2 billion investment that will provide 1,500 megawatts of renewable energy to customers.

Saturday’s event comes five months after Duke imploded two 200-foot-tall by 125-foot-wide powerhouses consisting of boilers, steam turbine generators, drums, motors, pumps and pipes – the main equipment needed to generate 915 megawatts of energy for more than 50 years.

Dannenhower said the Crystal River Energy Complex “will remain an industrial property for decades to come.”

“Though Duke Energy hasn’t decided how it might repurpose the property where the coal plant stood, the company has no plans to sell the property,” she said. 

The 1980s-era coal plant also at the energy complex is expected to operate until 2034, and the new natural gas plant has an operational life of about 35 years. 

- County commissioners Tuesday honored Duke employees by signing a Power Plant Worker Appreciation Day resolution.

“These workers give back to the local communities where they live and work by volunteering their time and talent and providing financial contributions to nonprofits,” the resolution said.

Contact Chronicle reporter Michael D. Bates at 352-563-3205 or mbates@chronicleonline.com. To see more of his stories, visit  tinyurl.com/y6kb23vv.

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