Dublin's Poolbeg Incinerator Back On Track

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--One of Ireland's most controversial power projects, the Poolbeg energy-from-waste (EfW) plant in Dublin, took a significant step forward last week when the Dublin City Council received the green light to purchase the land needed for a key part of the plant.

The council got the green light from the Irish planning board, An Bord Pleanala, to issue the compulsory purchase order for the land needed to construct a water-cooling facility for the 600,000-tonne incinerator. The plant, which has been on hold since May, is being built by Covanta Energy (Kingswinford, England), a subsidiary of Covanta Holding Corporation (NYSE:CVA) (Fairfield, New Jersey). Neither the Dublin City Council nor Covanta commented on the decision.

The planned 350 million-euro ($488 million) project will generate about 60 megawatts (MW) of electricity, enough for 80,000 homes, or about one-fifth of Dublin's household electricity needs. Work started on the project last December but was suspended in May because of the lack of the foreshore license needed to build the water-cooling facility. However, now that the council has the go-ahead to buy the land needed, a foreshore license will no longer be required. Work is expected to resume on the project in early 2011.

One of the biggest objectors to the project has been Ireland's Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, whose constituency includes Poolbeg and whose department has been responsible for deciding the foreshore license issue. Covanta applied for the license in 2008.

The council now has full planning permission from An Bord Pleanala and a waste license issued by Ireland's Environmental Protection Agency. The plant will employ 600 people during construction and 100 people when it becomes operational.

In August, Covanta Energy announced plans to construct an EfW facility with a generating capacity of 65 MW at Rookery South Pit, near Stewartby in Bedfordshire, England. For additional information, see August 11, 2010, article - Two Energy-from-Waste Facilities Proposed in the U.K. In June, Covanta and partner company Peel Environmental (Manchester, England) announced that construction was ready to begin on the U.K.'s largest eco-park, which will contain its own 95-MW EfW facility. For additional information, see June 3, 2010, article - U.K.'s Largest 'Eco-Park' Moves Forward.

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