The Energos Plant in the Isle of Wight, just can’t seem to stay within those legal emission limits. This time it’s Mercury.
At the June Salford Council meeting where the Sky Properties incinerator plan was rejected, a representative from Energos vehemently defended their technology. They continue to refuse to acknowledge that the plant is in fact an incinerator, although defined and classified under both UK and EU law as.. “an incinerator”. During the debate, they likened their plant to a Formula 1 Racing Car, claiming that this was a world away from a traditional incinerator which was much like a normal run of the mill family car. I don’t about you, but I’d rather not wrap my lips around the exhaust of either.
Just two months before extolling the virtues of their space age racing car of a waste burner, their only UK operational plant was still having problems with emission breaches. The public face and statements of Energos, clearly don’t match up with the facts and figures provided by the Environment Agency. A report showed the following:
Mercury Emission Test (16/03/11 at 09:58 hrs)
Location: Monitoring Point A1 site chimney
Emission Source: Chimney Emissions
Substances(s) potentially released: Mercury
Analysis sample release rate: 0.289mg/m3.
The legally allowed limit for Mercury release is 0.05mg/m3. This test showed that the plant was released almost 6 times the legally allowed limit. Energos once again have proved themselves less than competent to keep their facilities within safe limits.
In other news earlier this year, the Isle of Wight Council have decided to reduce their reliance on the Energos plant. They consider it wholly unreliable and want to reduce their dependence on it. Increasing recycling would be one way to counteract the impact of the fault gasifier:
The chips continue to stack up against the possibility of a successful appeal for Sky. We’re still here, still waiting and ready to fight it when it comes.