The failure of the incinerator to produce much electricity this year was the subject of questioning by Onchan MHK, Peter Karran last Tuesday (20^th May 2008).

Environment Minister, John Shimmin confirmed that SITA had encountered further problems with the turbine, a story exclusively reported on by the Manx Herald last year, and this was responsible for the failure of the plant to generate any electricity since January this year.

On this occasion a warped external casing has been blamed, and the Minister said that SITA would be making a claim from their contractor, Kvaerner, but that the only cost to the public would be from the environmental prospective.

Mr Karran asked if the Minister would revisit the issue of utilizing the waste heat from the plant; to which the Minister replied that the Department’s Energy Initiatives officer had the matter under consideration.

(Editors note: A scheme to utilise the waste heat, through a district heating scheme, was considered when the incinerator was in the planning stage. The projected additional cost was £500,000 but not progressed for a variety of reasons. It will probably cost a great deal more money now to pursue a similar project.)

Meanwhile, Braddan Parish Commissioners considered a request by Andrew Jessopp, one of the two Commissioners’ representatives on the Richmond Hill Consultative Committee, for the Board’s support for an ‘extra-ordinary’ meeting of the Committee to be called.

Mr Jessopp explained he had concerns regarding the operational procedures arising from the recent ‘fires’ at the plant; and wanted the Committee to have an early opportunity to review these specific procedures. The Board agreed to support Mr Jessopp’s request.

The latest set of approved minutes for the RHCC, for the meeting 16^th January 2008, reveal that concerns remained in regards to the high sulphur content of chipped waste delivered to the plant. The possible cause was put down to the waste being contaminated with plaster. It was agreed that further investigations would be carried out; but SITA denied any suggestion that their inspection of waste delivered to the plant lacked robustness.

The slight rise in dioxin levels in soils again taxed the minds of the committee and it was agreed, although not yet at a level to cause concern, further sampling and investigation was needed to identify any possible cause for the increase.

Concern was also expressed by the BPC representatives about the level of access to information regarding the running of the incinerator; not that the Commissioners were suggesting the DLGE was hiding anything, as it was more a matter of the timing of the release of the information or documentation.