Incinerator feels heat
■ Operator says ‘glitch’ to blame for the problems in its first week
Tom Tuite THE operator of the Poolbeg incinerator has been fined €1,000 and ordered to pay €14,000 in costs after a “glitch” led to it breaking its environmental protection licence during its first week.
The power plant, which be- gan operations in June last year, burns waste to produce 60 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 80,000 homes.
It is run by The Dublin Waste to Energy project – a public private partnership between Dublin City Council and the recycling and energy company Covanta.
over breach of licence
Dublin Waste to Energy Ltd faced six counts of breaking conditions of a licence for the facility granted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
At Dublin District Court yesterday it entered a guilty plea to three of the charges. The remaining three counts were dropped.
Solicitor Brendan Slattery, for the EPA, said the plant required and held a licence from the EPA.
The charges related to events in June 2017 when the facility just commenced operation, he said.
The operator pleaded guilty to failing to ensure on June 6 last that the plant was operated in such a way that gas resulting from the process was raised at a temperature of 850C.
There was also a guilty plea to a charge of failing to ensure an auxiliary burner was switched on automatically when the temperature fell below 850C.
The operator also pleaded guilty that between June 1 and June 2 last, both dates inclusive, it failed to ensure, in the event of an incident occurring at the facility, that the EPA was notified by 10am the following working day, and that it failed to notify in a format specified by the agency of any breach of one or more of the conditions of the licence.
EPA inspector Simon Buckley told the court he was at the facility on June 2 when he discovered there had been a loss of temperature incident the previous day but the agency had not been notified in accordance with the licence.
He agreed with Mr Slattery that the temperature in the combustion chamber had dropped below 850C, there was a breach of the emissions limit and there had been a plant shut-down.
On June 6 the temperature again went below 850C, which is required for the combustion of waste.
Shane Murphy SC, for Dublin Waste to Energy Ltd, said it was caused by a “glitch” and happened in the plant’s first week in operation when testing was being carried out.