The explosion brought what was left of the structure down around 9 a.m.

It’s taken months of work to bring the structure to this point. DEP officials told the Times Observer that asbestos removal started last June and demolition started in October.

The demolition work was completed by B&B Wrecking from Cleveland, Ohio.

The owner of the site is identified in a DEP asbestos and demolition form provided to the Times Observer as

Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton Clouds of dust and smoke rise in the wake of the demolition of the remaining structure from the Warren Generating Station.

Trogon Development LLC, which is based in Canovanas, Puerto Rico.

The company purchased the two parcels for a total of $3.32 million in March 2021 from RRI Energy Inc. and Genon Rema LLC, respectively, according to online county assessment records.

According to a 1977 article published in the Times Observer, the plant was coal-fired. The coal itself largely came from strip mines in Clarion County and was trucked to the facility.

The coal was crushed on-site into a fine powder, which made it burn hotter and more efficiently in the boiler system. The steam then entered the turbines, also called the generator shaft, that powered a rotor, a direct current electromagnet revolving in a housing that produced a magnetic field. Electricity was produced as the rotor continually passed through that magnetic field.

The Times Observer report indicated that the capacity was 82,500 kilowatts, 42,500 from each of two identical units. That was estimated to be able to likeht 850,000 100 watt lamps, though the electricity generated in Starbrick was “integrated into a tri-state network assuring adequate power supplies for all customers.”

DEP information indicates that the current use of the site includes a 57-megawatt natural gas and fuel oil-fired generation station.

The station being demolished “previously had housed two coal-fired 40-megawatt steam electric generation units that were installed in 1948 and 1949, respectively, and retired in September 2002,” according to DEP.