Government is seeking planning permission to partially demolish a building at the Tynes Bay Waste to Energy facility to make room for an improved turbine which will generate more electricity.According to an application received by the Planning Department on May 28, the Ministry of Public works plan to replace an “ageing and undersized” 3.6-megawatt steam turbine-generator with a new 7.4-megawatt turbine-generator.According to the application, the new turbine-generator would be able to fully utilise the steam produced by the incineration process to produce electricity.However the application states: “Since the turbine must be located adjacent to the incinerator boiler house a ‘green field’ location is not available.“When the new ash processing building was constructed in 2011 a new workshop was provided on the second floor, leaving the old workshop, located in the north west corner of the boiler house vacant.“This is the ideal location for the new turbine-generator, but has insufficient plan area to accommodate all the new equipment.”The application proposes the “careful demolition” of part of the two-story building to make room for a new building with a larger plan and roof elevation to accommodate the new equipment.“The new building will be all reinforced concrete construction to provide the necessary structural integrity and provide adequate noise reduction,” the application stated.Only steam will be emitted by the new equipment, according the application, and the only environmental concerns are the noise and the installation of a second seawater intake pipe.The latter issue has been resolved by upgrading the seawater cooling pumps and filtration systems, making the additional pipe unnecessary.Work on the project is expected to begin this October and be completed by July 2014.Government announced last October that it intended to install a new $12.9 million generator which would almost quadruple the amount of electricity exported to Belco.While around 1.6 megawatts is currently put back into the grid, the new turbine will allow around 4.7 megawatts to be exported.