Shuttered Detroit-area power plant demolished by explosives, sending dust and flames into the air

TRENTON, Mich. (AP) — Part of a shuttered power plant near Detroit was demolished Friday by explosives that turned the hulking structure into piles of rubble and kicked up a wall of dust and flames.

A line of controlled explosives detonated across the base of the former Trenton Channel Power Plant’s boiler house around 6 a.m. just before the nine-story, 180-foot (15-meter) tall structure began collapsing along the Detroit River.

DTE Energy officials said the collapse unfolded smoothly and as the utility had planned.

“Once the explosives were lit, the building collapsed upon itself and we were able to safely and successfully bring the boiler house down,” Renee Tomina, DTE Energy’s senior vice president of project management organization told The Detroit News.

The coal-burning power plant was retired in 2022 after nearly a century of generating electricity. It was demolished as part of DTE Energy’s shift toward clean energy by building a battery storage facility.

When it comes online in 2026, the Trenton Channel Energy Center will be the largest standalone battery energy storage project in the Great Lakes, DTE Energy said. It will be able to store 220 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 40,000 homes, according to the utility.

Until they were demolished in March, the Trenton Channel Power Plant site also featured two 600-foot (183-meter) tall red-and-white striped smokestacks that had long been a local landmark.