Vol. 485 No. 3
87 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Public Enterprise her views on whether waste incineration with energy recovery is an appropriate way of achieving the target for the renewables sector by 1999 in view of widespread public opposition to incineration, high capital costs and potential interference with waste strategies focusing on reduction and recycling. [23364/97]
The target of 10 per cent of the installed electricity generating capacity being renewable energy based by the end of 1999 is premised on a number of different technologies of which waste-to-energy is one.
The second Alternative Energy Requirement, AER II competition was launched in December 1995 with the aim of securing an electricity generating plant of between 10MW and 30MW using various forms of biomass or waste as a fuel. Having accepted the recommendation of an independent agency, ETSU, which was appointed to run the competition, the winning consortium of Foster Wheeler Power Systems Inc. and ESB Power Generation was announced in February 1997. Of the eligible fuels, the winning project proposes to use municipal solid waste to generate electricity.
The proposed waste-to-energy facility is not an incinerator. It does, of course, involve combustion in the same way as electricity generation from other fuel sources does. The developers will be required to comply with all planning and environmental licensing requirements and, as the project is Dublin based, it will have to be compatible with the relevant provisions of the Dublin Waste Management Strategy when it is finalised.
