CONCERNED Milford Haven residents are calling on people to object to energy company Egnedol’s plans to build a power plant in Blackbridge which would gasify 480,000 tonnes of virgin biomass and waste derived fuels every year.

They are consulting on their Environmental Impact Assessment right now and they must consider any objections or other comments by local residents sent to them by 20th May.

Campaigner Shelagh O’Keeffe told The Herald: “Egnedol state that they want to increase the size of the plant seven-fold over three years, though this would require a new planning application. Egnedol’s proposal includes a number of different activities which would rely on waste heat from the power plant.

“However, two of those rely on technologies which have never been successfully used anywhere in the world.  The others, such as a warm water fish farm, rely on a constant, uninterrupted supply of heat.

“But this cannot be guaranteed because no attempt to generate electricity using a biomass or waste gasifier in the UK has ever been successful.

Mrs O’Keeffe added: “There are serious flaws in Egnedol’s Environmental Impact Assessment.  For example, they do not say what they will actually be burning.  At a public consultation event, an Egnedol representative said that half of the feedstock would be wood from fast-growing tree plantations in Greece and Morocco and that the other half would be waste wood.  However the company which was to supply the plantation wood has since confirmed that they have no supply agreement with Egnedol and that the plantations in Greece and Morocco do not yet exist.  And the planning documents simply speak about ‘virgin biomass’ and ‘Waste Derived Fuel’, suggesting that the plant could burn any type of waste as well as any type of wood.

“I believe that the claims about the number of jobs which would be created by the plant appears highly inflated and far exceeds the number of jobs created by other power plant of a similar size.

Earlier this year plans were explained to councillors at Milford Haven Town Hall.

The power station, it was explained, initially billed to generate up to 49.9MWe of electricity, will use a combination of waste wood and sustainable wood chip supplies – the latter to be imported from Morocco and Cyprus.

At the January 25 meeting town councillors were told that waste gasses will be emitted from a 60m high stack near to the existing Wards Pier. The company has promised that there will be no noise audible from the boundary of the facility, and that emissions will be minimal, with nitrogen oxide fumes being 99% below the government-accepted safe level.

Councillors were also shown slides detailing the number of jobs that were expected to be created in each division of the new Eco Park – Mr Whitehouse said: “These will be well paid jobs, and we have already started working with the local job centre in Milford Haven to recruit suitable candidates. We have already recruited three security guards locally. West Wales has a large pool of people with the right skills.”

He added: “We are also working with Swansea University who lead the way in research in algae. We have made contact with Pembrokeshire College and we hope to be working with them on this project also.”

After the presentation councillors were able to ask questions about the proposed development.

Cllr John Cole asked: “How do you intend to control pollution from this proposed development?”

Mr Whitehouse replied: “We use ADMS4 modelling, a computer model which looks at meteorological data and the background air quality to model levels of NO2. We understand that Milford Haven is a sensitive area for N02, but we will use urea injectors in this process to minimise emissions.”

He added: “We will also have automatic shutdown if set levels of emissions are breached.”

There will be a second full consultation into the biomass plant once the full application has been submitted to the Welsh Assembly Government.

Public representations can be emailed to Egnedol on [email protected] before May 20.