Client News > Release

22-07-2010

POOLBEG ENERGY FROM WASTE PLANT IS APPROPRIATELY SIZED

Extracts from Mr. Scott Whitney, President, Covanta Europe, speaking at Press Briefing in the Westbury Hotel, Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 at 10 a.m. 


POOLBEG ENERGY FROM WASTE PLANT IS APPROPRIATELY SIZED. 
 

PROPOSED LEVIES ARE CONTRARY TO EU WASTE POLICY. 
 

PROJECT WITH 500 JOBS + 58 MW OF ELECTRICITY READY TO PROCEED. 
 

MBT IS NOT A MAGIC BULLET 
 

Over the past several months as Covanta and Dublin City Council have sought to move ahead with the construction of the Poolbeg energy-from-waste (EfW) plant several of the areas of debate have related to processing capacity of the project and an alternative technology – specifically MBT.  I’d like to focus today primarily on those two issues.

One of the key claims made by opponents of the project is that the plant is over-sized for the Dublin Region’s residual waste market.  The truth is that there is, and under all reasonably predictable scenarios will continue to be, plenty of waste left over after recycling to justify the Poolbeg facility at its current size. 

Covanta is the largest energy-from-waste operator in the world.  We run 44 energy-from-waste plants of various sizes and technologies. In the past twenty five years we have constructed 21 plants similar to the Poolbeg project.  During that time we have seen many fluctuations in waste volumes.  But we know that facilities like this are designed and built for the long term.  

Everyone agrees that the recovery of energy from waste is environmentally preferable to landfilling and this fact is a central element in the waste hierarchy and at the heart of the EU Landfill Directive. It will not be a tragedy if this facility isn’t full to the gills on every day of every year of operation for the next 30 years.  But it makes no sense to deliberately undersize a facility such as this just so we can ensure that there’s some waste leftover for the landfill companies.  It would be bad for the environment and a costly mistake if it led to fines for failing to meet the EU landfill directive in future years.

In order to update our information relative to current and likely future waste arisings in the Dublin Region, we recently commissioned the respected environmental engineering consultants Fehily Timoney & Company to undertake an assessment in that regard.  I am pleased to be joined here this morning by Bernadette Guinan, Head of Waste Management Fehily Timoney.

According to the EPA, residual waste can be defined as that “fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW) remaining after treatment or diversion, which generally requires further treatment (EPA, 2009)”; in other words what is left after recycling.  The Fehily Timoney study projects residual waste arisings from a baseline of 2008, using as a starting point, the actual waste tonnages presented in the Annual Waste Progress Report 2009 which was produced by the four Dublin Local Authorities.

For purposes of the study, recycling rates identified in the Waste Management Plan for the Dublin Region 2005 – 2010 are assumed to be achieved. In 2008 the recycling rate achieved was 41%; this is assumed to increase to 50% by 2013, and increases thereafter to 59% by 2020.  Fehily Timoney modelled a range of scenarios, adopting a conservative approach and estimated the amount of residual waste arisings as follows:
 
Range of projected residual waste arisings managed until 2030

 

Year Residual Waste Range Recycling Level
(tonnes)*
 
 
2008 715,646 41%
 
2009 658,002 – 659,540 43%
 
2010 604,437 – 631,811 45%
 
2013 603,881 – 630,137 50%
 
2016 611,060 – 660,186 54%
 
2020 599,768 – 674,081 59%
 
2030 765,894 – 995,020 59%
 

*remaining after recycling   

I would also like to briefly address one other important issue. Waste management policy recently proposed by the Ministry of Environment seems to prefer MBT (mechanical biological treatment) as a method of waste treatment over energy-from-waste and suggests the implementation of discriminatory levies on EfW plants like the Poolbeg facility.  

The typical MBT process results in a volume of residual material that is approximately two thirds of the waste input; so there remains a considerable amount of residue which must either be sent to landfill, or for energy recovery in EfW plants or other combustion based facilities such as cement kilns.   An EPA report published in 2008 states that an environmental assessment carried out using the UK Environment Agency’s Life Cycle Assessment model to compare MBT-based waste management systems with EfW based systems concluded that “incineration in a high efficiency combined heat and power configuration performs best”.

The same report concluded “it appears that MBT over the life of a project is more expensive than EfW as a residual waste treatment technology”.

In the UK, where Covanta is currently developing a significant energy from waste business, Norfolk and Gloucestershire County Councils have recently abandoned their plans for MBT on grounds of cost and lack of efficiency, as did Suffolk County Council which is now about to award a contract for the construction of an EfW plant.  In other European countries where attempts have been made to utilize MBT as the primary method of residual waste treatment, that strategy has been largely abandoned due to the realization that MBT is not a sustainable process.

I would like to finish by making two other points. The Poolbeg project has been vetted extensively by Ireland’s regulatory processes.  It has been approved by Bord Pleanala; the EPA; the Government’s finance watchdog, the National Development Finance Agency; and the Commission for Energy Regulation. Only last week, the Competition Authority gave its blessing to the contract.

However, approval of our Foreshore Licence application, which has been with the appropriate authorities since December 2008, is still awaited. 

Site clearance work at Poolbeg is now complete. Last week, the Taoiseach, Mr. Cowen was in the United States seeking to secure further investment and jobs for Ireland. The Poolbeg project will bring an investment of €350 million and 500 construction jobs over a three year period to Ireland. When operational, Poolbeg will also provide up to 100 permanent jobs, and generate 58Mega Watts of “green” energy as well as district heating for 80,000 homes. I believe it is time to get on with the job.