Consultant questions efficiency of plant

College Protein"s planned extension was not a combined heat and power plant but a multifuel incinerator, a consultant claimed at Monday"s sitting of the oral hearing. Utility consultant Jim McMahon said he had 25 years" experience of combined heat and power (CHP) projects and had been retained by the North-East Alliance Against Incineration. He said he found the Nobber plant would have a heat efficiency of just 35 per cent, despite earlier claims of 89 and 75 per cent. The 35 per cent figure was far below the legal definition of 70 per cent, with the lower reading mainly the result of the 52,500 tonnes of liquid waste proposed to be burned annually, accounting for half of its throughput. This material had very little calorific value and would drive up energy consumption, in turn reducing the predicted 31 megawatt electrical generation. The public service levy on power generation formed part of potential income for College Proteins, along with gate fees, a total he put at €15 million which made it 'a good commercial project'. Mr McMahon said the liquid waste would add water to fuel, which was 'unprecedented', given that even peat was first dried before being used in stations like Edenderry. He further claimed the smokestack would be visually intrusive while high-frequency industrial noise would be expected from the condenser fans. It was 'very difficult to reduce or attenuate such noise' without putting an enclosure over such fans, which resulted in them becoming very hot, he added. Environmental scientist Jack O"Sullivan, also called by NEAI, questioned the economic reasons behind the proposed CHP plan. The financial benefits would be significiant if the firm could be sure of obtaining the necessary combustible wastes with high calorific value. But half of the proposed annual 105,000 tonnes would be light organic wastes from the foods and drinks industry, with low calorific value. The commercial return from burning such waste might be clear when considered alongside current high oil prices but that could not be a factor for Bord Plenaála, which had to consider local, regional and national planning issues. Mr O"Sullivan said he represented successful Cork objectors against a commercial operator seeking to open a landfill there, on the rejected basis that the local authority had a monopoly in the lone and adequate site there. He challenged Dr Fergal Callaghan"s claims that only Lagan Cement was currently licensed to burn MBM. New plants at Derrylin, Co Fermanagh; Ballyconnell, Co Cavan, and Platin, outside Drogheda, could all accept significant quantities of such waste as a co-fuel, if it were commercially viable for them to do so. He said he understood Lagan Cement was currently experiencing some difficulty in obtaining sufficient MBM and had applied to be allowed burn substantially more than the 50,000 tonnes of its present annual licence. He also understood from a senior Indaver official that this company might consider burning the category one MBM at the Carranstown, Duleek, incinerator which was now under construction. Incorporating such material into the clinker made suitable cement powder. The Carranstown plant could burn some MBM along with its main municipal solid waste. He queried how College Proteins could access 15,000 tonnes annually of category one MBM from such storage sites at Slane, Dunleer and Ballywater (Co Wexford), the only such licensed storage areas in Leinster. The drinks industry was also achieving greater efficiencies, making the targeted 52,500 tonnes of waste annually much harder to source. Only a very small proportions of such waste would be suitable for burning in the fluidised bed proposed by College, he claimed. The firm had also failed its legal requirment of properly consulting the local community, given the strong local feelings against the project, added the engineer. NEAI founder Larry McEntee set out the history of rendering operations at the College Road site from the 1980s and noted the College Proteins" licensed throughput had shot up by 416 per cent between 1997 to 2001 alone. A year later, another operator, John O"Rourke, had been refused permission to retain and increase his output as planners claimed it would cause a traffic hazard and negatively impact on the environment. Yet, College Proteins was now proposing to increase its throughput from 125,000 to 192,500 tonnes, generating more traffic and erecting a chimney stack 44 higher than the existing highest one, said Mr McEntee. He alleged there was no trust between the local community and College Proteins because, he claimed, the firm had been in breach of planning conditions since 1989 as well as its IPPC licence, the animal by-product regulations on transport of materials and the waste management legislation, added Mr McEntee. It had circumvented the proper planning procedures, resulting in road spillages, odours on clothes, roads and houses for which there had been broken promises and apologies. The current proposal, he added, was not sustainable development while Nobber struggled to survive. Just four pupils had enrolled at the village"s national school this year, at a time when Meath recorded almost the highest population growth in the country.