Electricity generation below capacity 'for months'

The Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre has "not been working fully" since the summer because of a faulty boiler on one of its lines

An electricity generator at a Cornish incinerator has been operating below capacity for "several months", the local council has said.

The Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre, at St Dennis, had "not been working fully" since the summer because of a faulty boiler on one of its furnace lines, a Cornwall Council spokesperson said.

Councillor Loic Rich confirmed the site's second line would have to close for a month for maintenance from late September so waste would need to be sent elsewhere - potentially costing the council money.

A spokesperson for Cornwall Energy Recovery Limited said it was "making every effort to secure capacity in other energy recovery facilities in the region and minimise waste sent to landfill".

They said the overall programme of repairs would take about six months and would start as soon as operator Suez received the replacement parts.

Rich said the closure was "a problem obviously because all of the stuff that we can't recycle goes into the incinerator and that gets burnt and converted into electricity".

He added: "Another issue is if we don't put stuff through the incinerator we have to pay."