The Dublin Waste-to-Energy Facility, also known as the Poolbeg Incinerator, is a

waste-to-energy plant A waste-to-energy plant is a waste management facility that combusts wastes to produce electricity. This type of power plant is sometimes called a trash-to-energy, municipal waste incineration, energy recovery, or resource recovery plant. Modern ...

serving the

Greater Dublin Area The Greater Dublin Area (GDA; Irish: ''Mórcheantar Bhaile Átha Cliath''), or simply Greater Dublin, is an informal term that is taken to include the city of Dublin and its hinterland, with varying definitions as to its extent. As of 2022, its e ...

, located on the Poolbeg peninsula. The plant is capable of producing up to 60

megawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Watt ...

of electricity, enough to power 80,000 homes, and provide

district heating District heating (also known as heat networks or teleheating) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating a ...

for up to 50,000 homes in the Dublin area. The facility will process up to 600,000 tonnes of waste per year. Poolbeg accepted its first delivery of waste on the 24th of April 2017. The proposal to build an incinerator at this location provoked controversy since its inception in 1997 with concerns about

traffic Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic ...

and

emissions Emission may refer to: Chemical products * Emission of air pollutants, notably: **Flue gas, gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue ** Exhaust gas, flue gas generated by fuel combustion ** Emission of greenhouse gases, which absorb and emit rad ...

, but construction work finally started in 2014.

Incidents

On June 8, 2017, eleven people were hospitalised after an ‘uncontrolled release’ of

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

inside the flue gas treatment area inside the plant. Covanta, the operator of the plant, was ordered to temporarily cease the incineration process at the facility by the

Health and Safety Authority The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) is the national body in Ireland with responsibility for occupational health and safety. Its role is to secure health and safety at work. It is an Irish state-sponsored body, established under the ''Safety, H ...

References

Buildings and structures in Dublin (city) Energy infrastructure completed in 2017 Waste power stations Power stations in the Republic of Ireland 2017 establishments in Ireland {{Ireland-stub