The selection of Texas-based Wheelabrator Technologies Inc. ends a search that took more than a decade and cost $1 million, according to a report by the Hawaii Tribune-Herald.

Wheelabrator was selected over two other finalists including Covanta, which runs HPower on O'ahu. HPower, located in Kapolei, processes more than 2,000 tons of O'ahu's solid waste per day.

The Big Island incinerator would be built near the Hilo landfill and take in trash from East Hawai'i. The project is subject to County Council approval.

Mayor Harry Kim said the energy-producing incinerator is the best alternative disposal method of all the ones considered.

"I'll cross my fingers, and say I hope this will be passed by the council," he said.

Kim said the Hilo plant would generate 6 or 7 megawatts of power, or enough to light up roughly 3,000 to 3,500 homes.

Several council members are planning to tour Wheelabrator plants in Tampa, Fla., and Lisbon, Conn., starting this month. Directors at both plants gave high marks to Wheelabrator.

Wheelabrator's McKay Bay plant in Tampa was built in 1985 and produces enough electricity from trash to power more than 12,000 homes, according to the company's Web site.

"Actually, they are doing more than expected and more than what the contract calls for," said Varghese Jacob, interim director of Tampa's Solid Waste Department. "The generation is much higher than expected."

He said producing extra electricity has earned Wheelabrator a yearly bonus of about $800,000, while an extra $1 million annually is going to the Tampa government, which owns the facility and sells the power to the local utility.

"It's a win-win situation," Jacob added.

The Lisbon facility was built in 1995 and processes about 250 tons of garbage daily, which is slightly more than the amount Hawai'i County now accepts at its rapidly filling Hilo landfill.

Wheelabrator has been fined for air emissions and monitoring violations in other states. But Kim said he is confident that emissions hazards and safety threats will be "nil," noting that emissions will be regulated by federal law and state monitoring.

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