Waste for energy study?

Press, 1 April 1989, Page 2

Waste for energy study?

By

SUZANNE KEEN

A Ministry of Energy group has shown interest in a proposal to convert Christchurch’s waste into energy.

The general manager of the Port Hills Energy Authority, Mr lan Bywater, said the proposal was being considered by the Ministry’s Least-Cost Supply Group. It was possible it would allocate funds toward a $30,000 feasibility study for the project. A report last year by the authority showed that electricity generation from a refuse-incineration plant burning the waste from metropolitan Christchurch could be economic. The Metropolitan Refuse Disposal Committee decided not to fund a feasibility study, however, and the authority has been forced to look elsewhere for support. The manager of the Least-Cost Supply Group, Miss Jane Sheldon, said it had a commitment to look for and promote energy options which were low cost in economic and environmental terms.

One of the advantages of the waste-to-energy scheme was that it proposed cheap electricity generation, while counteracting the problem of waste landfill sites. “One of the real benefits..of incineration is that it is a way of getting rid of many materials which cannot be disposed of otherwise.”

The groups will examine the proposal in full before deciding whether to .assist with funding the feasibility study. Mr Bywater said a big construction and finance consortium was also interested in the proposal.