Two towering stacks have crashed down on a piece of coal-powered history, signalling a move towards a cleaner energy future.

The Liddell Power Station, in the NSW Hunter Valley, was the centre of the climate wars when in 2015 AGL announced its plans to shut it down in eight years.

It was eventually decommissioned in 2023 after 52 years generating power, which is considered a very long life in the energy sector.

On Tuesday, the two 170-metre-tall chimneys, which have a base of 20 metres, were finally demolished with the use of explosives.

AGL site transition general manager Brad Williams told the ABC it was like bringing down a tree.

“About 700 holes are drilled in the side of the chimney, and they’re packed with a small amount of explosives,” he explained.

“Then we cut … triangular sections that act as a hinge and then cut through the reinforcement at the base and rear of the stack.

“It’s an awful lot of work for a 10-second event to safely bring them down.”

He said it was “a bittersweet moment”.

“These stacks have been an icon for the site, the region, and the community for a number of decades, and particularly for our former employees,” he said.

“Bringing these stacks down really does signify a move into opening the site for reuse as an industrial energy hub, and with that comes new jobs, new opportunities and new developments.”

Only about 1 per cent of thermal plants globally run beyond 50 years, so the Liddell Power Station was considered long-lived.

The Turnbull and Morrison governments had raised the alarm about AGL’s plans to close the site and it became a lightning rod in the politicised climate wars.

But in 2019 AGL announced the first unit at Liddell would close in April 2022, while the remaining three units would close in 2023.

In March this year, the opening of a new Liddell Battery was heralded by the federal and state Labor governments.

The battery is gearing up to provide enough power to support around 200,000 homes on the nation’s main electricity grid within months, they said.