?End of an era?: explosives topple giant chimneys at defunct NSW coal-fired power plant

Explosive engineers have demolished two giant chimney stacks and a boiler at a defunct coal-fired power station west of Sydney as part of efforts to transform the site.

The 175-metre chimneys at Wallerawang have loomed large for residents of Lithgow, a town on the western edge of the Blue Mountains that is home to two coal-fired plants and coalmines.

"It's a really big event up here actually," said Brett Hawkins, chief executive of Greenspot, the company that has taken over the 620-hectare Wallerawang site. "These iconic pieces of infrastructure have dominated the skyline here for decades."

Site managers set up a 500-metre exclusion zone and nearby traffic, including on the Castlereagh Highway, was halted during the morning's explosions. The chimneys and boiler facility collapsed within a matter of seconds.

The plant ceased to operate in 2014 with the loss of 220 jobs, a year after EnergyAustralia bought Wallerawang and the nearby Mt Piper power stations from the NSW government for $160m.

The energy company later sold the site to Greenspot, a private company that hopes to find new uses for Wallerawang's strong grid connections, rail links and proximity to a skilled workforce.

The success of such efforts may form a template for similar power plants elsewhere. For instance, all of NSW's five operating coal-fired power stations are due to close by 2042, with AGL's Liddell plant in the Hunter the first slated for shuttering in 2023.