RWE npower has made public its decisions regarding the future of its power plants affected by the European Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).
By the end of 2013, all power station operators whose plants are covered by the IED were required to inform the relevant Environmental Regulator as to whether their plant would be entered into the Limited Life Derogation (LLD) category. The IED, which comes into effect on 1st January 2016 for existing large combustion plants, further tightens the levels of SO2, NOx and particulate emissions that power stations may emit.
LLD power stations may operate for a maximum of 17 500 hours from 1st January 2016 or until the end of 2023 before either closing or re-permitting to operate at new plant standards. The LLD is intended to provide a limited life option for plants for which further investment to abate emissions is not considered economic. LLD plants may be removed from the list at any time until the end of 2015 at which point the UK government will formally communicate the list of plants taking the LLD option to the European Commission.
RWE has decided to enter the following seven plants into the LLD. These decisions will be regularly reviewed until a final decision is made before the end of 2015. They are:
Aberthaw, Didcot B module 5, Didcot B module 6, Cheshire CHP, Conoco Phillips CHP, Grimsby CHP and Hythe CHP.
Kevin Nix, RWE managing director, Generation UK commented; "Only when we have political clarity on how the energy market will operate under the government's new energy legislation, as well as under other political changes to be enacted, will we be able to make that final decision [to stay on the LLD list] with confidence."
"RWE has invested more than £5 billion into new power stations in Britain in the last 5 years. However power stations across Europe are finding market conditions increasingly difficult. Britain needs long-term cross party support for both the objectives and the delivery of [its] energy policy to create the kind of market stability needed to make very large, long-term investment decisions."
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