Controversial Dublin Incinerator Project Good to Go

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The controversial Poolbeg energy-from-waste (EfW) plant in Dublin, Ireland, has overcome the final obstacle to starting construction later this year.

The troubled 500 million-euro ($647 million) incinerator project looks set to finally start after the National Development Finance Agency issued a "value for money" certificate for the 600,000-ton energy-from-waste plant. The certificate, which essentially tells the government that the project is good value for money, opens the way for the Dublin City Council to allow project developer, Covanta Energy (Kingswinford, England), a subsidiary of Covanta Holding Corporation (NYSE:CVA) (Fairfield, New Jersey), to build and run the plant. Certificates had been granted in the past but expired as the project hit numerous problems.

Despite the council having approved the project in 2007, a variety of legal and financial challenges, alongside stiff resistance from local opposition groups, have hindered the project. The proposed plant would generate about 60 megawatts (MW) of electricity, enough for 80,000 homes, or about one-fifth of Dublin's household electricity needs. A final decision is expected within a few weeks.

The project has been plagued by planning inquiries and complaints to the European Union (EU), as well as a public backlash against the 105 million euros spent by the Dublin City Council on land acquisition and consultants at the height of the Celtic Tiger boom. The land cost alone was in excess of 50 million euros and today is valued at just 6 million euros. Site clearance work was underway before being suspended in May 2010, due to the lack of a foreshore license for a water-cooling facility at the plant. For additional information, October 12, 2010, article--Dublin's Poolbeg Incinerator Back on Track.

Despite the impending green light for construction to start, opposition remains fierce.

"It will be opposed by everybody down here; I know nobody who will support it except the developers," Damien Cassidy, chairman of the Ringsend and Sandymount Environmental Group, told The Irish Times. "Nobody in this city wants an incinerator in Sandymount and Ringsend."If it takes someone having to go to court to oppose it, we will -- we will fight tooth and nail."

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