Endesa has taken down one of the two smokestacks at the Candelaria thermal power plant in Tenerife, after six months of work involving nine employees and two robots specifically designed to demolish this 76.5-meter tall structure, which had been out of operation since October 3, 2010.
The project of dismantling the smokestack also encompassed the demolition and removal of material from steam groups 3 and 4, both of which had been inactive for a long time after running for 487,770 hours. Additionally, steam groups 1 and 2, which had been out of service for years with a similar useful life to the previous ones, were also removed, as reported by Endesa in a statement on Tuesday.
The smokestack that was taken down measured 76.5 meters in height, with a base diameter of eleven and a half meters and a top diameter of six and a half meters. The demolition works in this phase resulted in 400 tonnes of concrete being generated, with 300 tonnes being extracted using two robots, a first in the Canary Islands. A backhoe from the ground was used to demolish the last ten meters.
The dismantling process started from the top of the chimney, accessed through an elevator installed for the task, transporting workers in a 25-30 minute process.
Two state-of-the-art robots of the ‘Brokk 110’ model were utilized for the first time, equipped with a demolition hammer and shears, each measuring 1.85 meters in length, 1.15 meters in height, and 0.78 meters in width with a weight of 990 kilos.
This project is a part of the company’s advancements in decarbonization and energy transition in the Canary Islands, symbolizing a move towards a more environmentally friendly energy approach.
The undertaking resulted in the extraction of 1,626 tonnes of iron and steel, 14 tonnes of aluminum, 3 tonnes of copper, 1,164 tonnes of concrete, 52 tonnes of insulation material, 10 tonnes of cables, and 180 tonnes of electrical equipment, totaling 3,052 tonnes of material obtained in the dismantling process according to data from Endesa.
At Endesa, it is explained that most of these materials were shipped by sea from the Canary Islands to be recycled into raw materials in European plants, ensuring that 94% of the extracted material from the smokestack was given a second life.
The head of thermal projects at Endesa Generación, Daniel Ruiz, highlighted that adverse weather conditions such as wind, heavy rain, heatwaves, and haze led to the loss of ten work days due to safety concerns during the project.
