Fine Gael Cllr Jarlath Munnelly has asked the executive of Mayo County Council whether any progress has been made in relation to a Mayo County Council invitation to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU ) - to address the council on the progress of the proposed Mayo Renewable Power project at the old Asahi site in Killala.
Cllr Munnelly, who also queried the status of licences at the plant, said: "I made a proposal that the CRU be invited to address Mayo County Council because of the application with them for the project at the old Asahi site in Killala for Mayo Renewable Power - so they could get back to work building the power station. Could the chief executive update us on that status of that letter?"
Chief executive of Mayo County Council, Peter Hynes, told Cllr Munnelly: "We did write to them and they came back basically saying that generation plants and where they are developed is not a matter for them, but they did not respond to the question of the invitation from the council; that has been reissued and we will keep you informed.
"On the scheme itself, it is my understanding that the scheme which is currently being considered by the CRU is in all material respects the same scheme which they certified previously in 2012. It is further my understanding, there has been no significant change in the technology which would be applied in the scheme like that, it is essentially making steam and using it to generate electricity.
"So the question of how long it will take for the licences to be refreshed and reissued is one that I can not answer, that is one for the CRU."
