Enemalta contractors have started dismantling a chimney at the Marsa power station site that dates back more than three decades.

The 69-metre boiler no.7 chimney is the power station's highest structure and is made up of five sections bolted on top of one another. It was assembled with the help of Malta Drydocks after it was brought to Malta from Palermo in Sicily, along with a 300 tonne per hour steam boiler and 40-megawatt turbine. 

Boiler No. 7, which is currently being dismantled as well, is the last remaining HFO-fired unit of the Marsa power station. All other boilers, including the ones that were kept on cold standby after the power station was shut down in March 2015, were pulled down earlier this year.

The Marsa station was disconnected from the national electricity grid last March, once alternative capacity became available through gas-fired plants in Delimara. 

Materials dismantled from the power station are being separated and where possible exported for recycling. Demolition contractors have already removed 6,490 tonnes of iron and steel, 286 tonnes of copper, 243 tonnes of other metals and 88 tonnes of aluminium from the site. Demolition of the power station is expected to be completed in 2018.