Agenda item

The Sub Committee had before it a report by the Interim Director of Communities, Housing and Infrastructure which provided an update on progress to date of the Joint Energy from Waste Project.

The report recommended:

that the Sub Committee notes the report.

Mr Lawrence spoke to the report and advised that the deadline for any applications for a judicial review had passed and no applications had been received.  Scottish Gas had commenced clearance of the site by starting to move an existing gas mains which had meant temporarily closing the adjacent waste recycling facility; the waste recycling facility was due to re-open shortly once this stage of works was completed.  Mr Lawrence highlighted that a major factor involved the process of slowly draining rainwater which had accumulated in the gas collector during the years it had lain unused which would take approximately four to six months due to the size of the drainage culvert being used to disperse the water but this should not impact on the handover date.

Mr Lawrence advised that the procurement phase of the project had started with a bidders’ day held on 3 February 2017 and he expressed his thanks to Councillor Cooney and Councillor Merson (Aberdeenshire Council) for their presence and their commitment and excitement at the project had been noted by potential bidders.  The three Moray Councillors were also very committed to the project however they had been unable to attend the bidders’ day.  Key players in the sector had attended and interest was strong.  Mr Lawrence explained that recent changes in procedures for submitting the notice to proceed with procurement in the Official Journal of European Union had led to Ms Linda Ovens, Project Director and the project team having to produce the necessary procurement documentation prior to the submission to the Journal which had incurred a delay of one week.  The next key point for the project would be the initial submission of bids to pre-qualify for the procurement process by 20 March 2017 with a shortleet process to allow discussion with four bidders before the further down selection at the end of 2017 to two bidders.

Mr Lawrence advised the project was now formally known as the NESS (North East Scotland Shared Energy from Waste) and a website was under development, details of which would be circulated to the media team in due course.

In response to a question from Councillor Finlayson about additional monitoring station locations, Mr Lawrence advised that no responses had been received from stakeholders.  He advised that any additional monitoring needed to have a recognisable purpose and value.  Types and locations of any additional monitoring equipment would need to be checked by SEPA as being appropriate for monitoring for any contaminants from the site but also be able to discount any particulates borne from the sea and vehicles.  He further advised that SEPA had not requested any additional air quality monitoring.  Mr Mark Reilly, Head of Public Infrastructure and Environment, advised that any monitoring could only give a snapshot of any one time and that the development of Aberdeen Harbour and the AWPR would be likely to have a significant impact on air quality which might distort results from the energy from waste site.

In response to Councillor Dickson’s suggestion that Torry Primary School would be a suitable location point, Mr Lawrence advised that Torry Primary had been suggested by officers but the project team wanted the community to suggest locations they thought suitable.

The Convener suggested that the stakeholder group be approached again to put forward suitable locations.

Councillor Donnelly asked for clarification on the numbers of homes anticipated to be supplied by the district heating network and whether the connection costs would reduce if more houses were connected.  Mr Lawrence advised that the connection fee would remain the same for each household and that there would be the capacity to supply up to 25,000 houses in the longer term.  The Convener advised that the Torry Heat Network would allow connection to individual houses and flats within blocks rather than just blocks of flats which the current heat networks were restricted to and that connection would be entirely optional, both within houses and flats in blocks.

The Sub Committee resolved:

(i)         that Stakeholders would be contacted to suggest their preferred sites for any additional monitoring equipment; and

(ii)        to otherwise note the report.