South Africa’s famous and colorful Soweto cooling towers were erected in 1951, a high density area of the city of Johannesburg named after the abbreviation for the suburbs built in the South Western Townships bordering the city’s mining belt in the south.

Popularly known as the Orlando towers, both towers were built in as an additive to the spray pond cooling system which was running at its capacity before the station was decommissioned in 1998 after 56 years of service.