Incineration company Indaver has claimed it can take over Dublin's Poolbeg project with its own finance and no liability to the taxpayer.
The company made the announcement against the backdrop of a continuing stalemate in negotiations between Dublin City Council and its US partner Covanta.
Indaver, which runs a waste to energy facility in Co Meath, has proposed building a facility at Poolbeg, but with a one-third reduction in waste capacity from 600,000 tonnes to 400,000.
John Ahern, Managing Director of Indaver Ireland, said that fresh planning permission would not be required, as the building would be the same size.
He also said that Indaver could buy out Covanta and construct the plant for €300m, while Dublin City Council would also recoup costs of €81m.
Mr Ahern said the company would be able to operate the plant without the 'put or pay' clause in Covanta's contract that requires Dublin's local authorities to guarantee a minimum amount of waste, or pay for the shortfall.
In a statement, Dublin City Council said negotiations with Covanta are continuing with a deadline of 29 February for agreement.
It said there would be financial penalties for either party should they terminate the contract.
In the event that negotiations with Covanta break down, Dublin City Council would have to examine all options, but would recoup its costs from whoever builds the incinerator.
Covanta is reported to be having difficulty in raising finance for the project and is understood to be concerned about continuing uncertainty surrounding the future regulation of the waste industry here.
The company had begun construction on the plant but this stopped in May 2010 when Dublin City Council failed to secure a foreshore licence.
Then Environment Minister John Gormley sought to impose levies on incineration that would have made Poolbeg unviable.
This was reversed by current Minister Phil Hogan, but uncertainty remains over future controls in the waste collection business.
The High Court had ruled that Dublin City Council had no right to control waste collection on behalf of the four Dublin authorities following legal challenges by commercial operators Panda and Greenstar last September.
The city council has since become the last of the four Dublin councils to withdraw from bin collection services and plans for a huge council landfill in the Fingal area have also been shelved.
Dublin City Council now has no plans to appeal the High Court ruling but Environment Minister Phil Hogan is considering legislation to give local authorities the power to award waste collection contracts.
It is feared this would trigger more legal challenges from commercial operators.
