Power Firm to Take Down 3 Coastal Smokestacks

Fulfilling a promise to Redondo Beach city officials, the owners of an outdated electrical power generating station on the city’s coastline will begin tearing down three of the plant’s eight smokestacks next week.

The demolition of part of the massive power plant, built half a century ago by the Southern California Edison Co., is part of a program by its current owners, AES Corp., to scale back and modernize the 52-acre facility. The move will reduce the plant’s impact on the surrounding neighborhood and enable city officials to develop part of the site for beach-related commercial projects.

AES and local and state officials will celebrate with a demolition ceremony at the power plant at 10 a.m. Tuesday. The ceremony will include hoisting several officials to the top of one of the 200-foot-high smokestacks, according to a Redondo Beach official.

Shortly after purchasing the facility in late 1997, AES began negotiating with city officials who have long wanted to rid their coastline of the eyesore. AES said it will not close down the plant but can reduce its size and impact.

The power plant is one of several oil- and gas-fired facilities built along California’s coast in the 1950s and 1960s to meet the rapidly growing state’s energy needs.