OpenLegislation

The Emissions Performance Standard Regulations 2015 in Scotland

S.I. 2015/933 · Made 24 March 2015 · Extends to United Kingdom

Up to date with all changes known to legislation.gov.uk, revised to 17 May 2022.

Electricity

Made 24th March 2015

Coming into force in accordance with regulation 1(1)

The Secretary of State has before making these Regulations—

(a)

obtained the consent of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland in accordance with section 62(10) of the Energy Act 2013f1, and

(b)

consulted the Scottish Ministers and the Welsh Ministers and such other persons as the Secretary of State considered appropriate in accordance with section 62(11) of that Act.

In accordance with section 62(3) of that Act, a draft of this instrument was laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.

Accordingly, the Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 57(6) to (8), 60 and 62(9) of, and Schedules 4 and 5 to, the Energy Act 2013, makes the following Regulations:

Annotations to the whole text

Footnotes

f1

2013 c. 32 which has been amended by S.I. 2014/1638, regulation 48(1) and (2), Schedule 13, Part 1, paragraph 8 and Schedule 14, Part 1.

Contents

  1. Part 1
  2. 1Citation, commencement, extent and application
  3. 2Interpretation
  4. Part 2: Emissions limit duty
  5. 3Application of emissions limit duty to additional cases
  6. 4Modification of emissions limit
  7. 5Associated gasification plant
  8. 6Exemption for complete carbon capture and storage system
  9. 7EPS annual emissions
  10. 8EPS annual emissions: reduction for CHPQA
  11. Signature
  12. Explanatory note

1Citation, commencement, extent and applicationI1

(1)

These Regulations may be cited as the Emissions Performance Standard Regulations 2015, and come into force on the day after the day on which they are made.

(2)

Parts 1 and 2 of these Regulations extend to the United Kingdom.

(3)

Part 3 of these Regulations applies to England only.

2InterpretationI1C1

In these Regulations—

  • “the Act” means the Energy Act 2013;

  • “associated gasification plant” has the meaning given by regulation 5;

  • “CCS notification” means a notification under regulation 10;

  • “CHPQA certificate” means a certificate issued by the Secretary of State in which is reported the amount specified as CHP Qualifying Heat Output (as defined in the CHPQA standard) applying to the relevant fossil fuel plant;

  • F1“CHPQA standard” means the Combined Heat and Power Quality Assurance Standard, Issue 6, October 2016;

  • “civil penalty notice” means a notice issued under regulation 15;

  • “combined heat and power generating station” means a generating station which is (or may be) operated in order to supply to any premises—

    1. (a)

      heat produced in association with the electricity generated; or

    2. (b)

      steam produced from, or air or water heated by, such heat;

  • “emissions limit notification” means a notification under regulation 9;

  • “enforcement notice” means a notice issued under regulation 14;

  • “EPS annual emissions” is to be construed in accordance with regulations 7 and 8;

  • “EPS annual emissions notification” means a notification under regulation 11;

  • “generating station” means a station which generates electricity;

  • “generating unit” means any combination of generators, boilers, turbines, or other prime movers that are physically connected as one unit and operated together to produce electricity independently of any other unit;

  • F2the GGETS Order” means the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Order 2020

  • “the GGETS Regulations” means the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations 2012f1;

  • F3“Greenhouse Gas Emissions Permit” means a permit granted under regulation 10 of the GGETS Regulations;

  • “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Permit” has the meaning given by article 4(1) of the GGETS Order;

  • F4“Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report” means a report required to be submitted by an operator by Article 67(1) of the Monitoring and Reporting Regulationf2;

  • “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report” means—

    1. (a)

      for emissions occurring before 1 January 2021, a report required to be submitted by an operator by virtue of Article 67(1) of the Monitoring and Reporting Regulation 2012

    2. (b)

      for emissions occurring on or after 1 January 2021, a report required to be submitted in accordance with a monitoring and report condition in the operator’s greenhouse gas emissions permit, by virtue of article 26(3) of, and paragraph 4(2)(b) of Schedule 6 to, the GGETS Order;

  • “information notice” is a notice issued under regulation 13;

  • “installed generating capacity”, in relation to a generating station or generating unit, means the maximum capacity of electricity generation (in MW) at which that generating station or generating unit could be operated for a sustained period without damage being caused to it (assuming the source of energy used to generate electricity is available without interruption);

  • “main boiler” means any fired vessel or vessels used to produce steam as part of a generating unit—

    1. (a)

      with a total thermal capacity in excess of 300MWth; and

    2. (b)

      in which any mixture of fossil fuel in gaseous, liquid or pulverised solid form is combusted;

  • F5“the Monitoring and Reporting Regulation” means Commission Regulation (EU) No 601/2012 on the monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Councilf3;

  • “the Monitoring and Reporting Regulation” means—

    1. (a)

      for emissions and activity data occurring before 1 January 2021, Commission Regulation (EU) No 601/2012 of 21 June 2012 on the monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, as it had effect immediately before IP completion day; and

    2. (b)

      for emissions and activity data occurring on or after 1 January 2021, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066 of 19 December 2018 on the monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, as given effect by article 24 of the GGETS Order;

  • “MW” means megawatts;

  • “MWth” means megawatt of thermal output;

  • “operator”, in relation to a relevant fossil fuel plant, means the person required to hold a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Permit for the relevant fossil fuel plant;

  • “relevant fossil fuel plant” means a fossil fuel plant to which the emissions limit duty applies under the Act or a generating unit to which the emissions limit duty applies by virtue of regulation 3;

  • “source stream” has the same meaning as in Article 3(4) of the Monitoring and Reporting Regulation;

  • F6“the Verification Regulation” means Commission Regulation (EU) No 600/2012 on the verification of greenhouse gas emission reports and tonne-kilometre reports and the accreditation of verifiers pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Councilf4; and

  • “the Verification Regulation 2018” means Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2067 on the verification of data and on the accreditation of verifiers pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, as given effect by virtue of article 25 of the GGETS Order; and

  • “verified” means verified in accordance with the Verification Regulation F72018.

3Application of emissions limit duty to additional casesI1

(1)

The emissions limit duty applies to a generating unit which satisfies the conditions in paragraphs (2) and (3).

(2)

The condition in this paragraph is that the generating unit uses—

(a)

fossil fuel; or

(b)

fuel produced by gasification plant.

(3)

The conditions in this paragraph are that—

(a)

the generating station in which the generating unit is located was the subject of a relevant consent granted before 18th February 2014; and

(b)

on or after 18th February 2014—

(i)

any main boiler in that generating unit is replaced; or

(ii)

an additional main boiler is installed in the generating unit.

(4)

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(a), a generating station is to be treated as the subject of a relevant consent if, by virtue of a consent or approval granted before section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989f1 or Article 39 of the Electricity (Northern Ireland) Order 1992f2 came into force, no relevant consent was required in respect of it.

(5)

The emissions limit duty does not apply to any generating equipment of a generating station in which the generating unit is located if that equipment is installed for safety purposes or for use in an emergency.

(6)

In paragraph (5), “emergency” means an occurrence which involves a risk to the health or safety of persons or to the safe operation of the generating station.

4Modification of emissions limitI1

(1)

Paragraph (3) applies to a relevant fossil fuel plant in respect of any year in which the plant meets any of the conditions in paragraph (2).

(2)

The conditions referred to in paragraph (1) are that during the year in question—

(a)

the relevant fossil fuel plant is used for the first time for the generation of electricity;

(b)

the relevant fossil fuel plant permanently ceases to be used for the generation of electricity;

(c)

the emissions limit duty does not apply in relation to a generating unit in the relevant fossil fuel plant by virtue of section 58 of the Act; or

(d)

the installed generating capacity of the generating station is altered.

(3)

Where this paragraph applies, the emissions limit of the relevant fossil fuel plant for the purposes of section 57 of the Act and regulations 9 and 11 is EL(revised) tonnes of carbon dioxide, calculated in accordance with paragraph (4).

(4)

In paragraph (3), EL(revised) means—

(a)

if the condition in paragraph (2)(a) applies—

EL÷365×N

where—

  • EL is to be calculated in accordance with section 57(1) of the Act as it applies without the modifications required to be made by paragraph (3); and

  • N is the number of days of the year in which the relevant fossil fuel plant generated electricity after the relevant fossil fuel plant commences generation, including the day on which the generation commenced;

(b)

if the condition in paragraph 2(b) applies—

EL÷365×N

where—

  • EL is to be calculated in accordance with section 57(1) of the Act as it applies without the modifications required to be made by paragraph (3);

  • N is the number of days of the year in which the relevant fossil fuel plant generated electricity before the relevant fossil fuel plant ceased generation, including the day on which the generation ceased;

(c)

if the condition in paragraph (2)(c) applies—

(EL÷365×N)+(C(revised)×R×7.446÷365×D)

where—

  • C(revised) is the installed generating capacity of the relevant fossil fuel plant comprised of the generating units not covered by an exemption under section 58 of the Act;

  • D is the number of days in the year in which the relevant fossil fuel plant generated electricity where an exemption under section 58 of the Act applied;

  • EL is to be calculated in accordance with section 57(1) of the Act as it applies without the modifications required to be made by paragraph (3);

  • N is the number of days in the year in which the relevant fossil fuel plant operated where an exemption under section 58 of the Act did not apply; and

  • R is the statutory rate of emissions, in g/kWh;

(d)

if the condition in paragraph (2)(d) applies—

(EL÷365×N)+(C(revised)×R×7.446÷365×D)

where—

  • C(revised) is the installed generating capacity of the relevant fossil fuel plant after the alteration;

  • D is the number of days in the year in which the relevant fossil fuel plant generated electricity after the alteration, including the day on which the fossil fuel plant first generated electricity with the altered installed generating capacity;

  • EL is to be calculated in accordance with section 57(1) of the Act as it applies without the modifications required to be made by paragraph (3);

  • N is the number of days in the year in which the relevant fossil fuel plant generated electricity before the alteration in the installed generating capacity of that plant; and

  • R is the statutory rate of emissions, in g/kWh.

5Associated gasification plantI1

“Associated gasification plant” means any gasification plant where—

(a)

that plant—

(i)

uses fossil fuel; and

(ii)

produces fuel from the fossil fuel; and

(b)

the fuel so produced by that plant is used by a relevant fossil fuel plant to generate electricity.

6Exemption for complete carbon capture and storage systemI1

The exemption from the emissions limit duty in section 58(1) of the Act applies only to those generating units which use a complete CCS systemf1.

7EPS annual emissionsI1

Subject to regulation 8, in respect of a relevant fossil fuel plant, the emissions from it that are attributable to the use of fossil fuel in any year (“EPS annual emissions”) are—

(a)

the total emissions of carbon dioxide which are the direct result of operations and processes carried out in the generation of electricity during the year by that relevant fossil fuel plant; and

(b)

if not already included in the total under paragraph (a), the total emissions of carbon dioxide directly attributable to the production of the fuel produced by any associated gasification plant and used by the fossil fuel plant in the generation of electricity in that year.

8EPS annual emissions: reduction for CHPQAI1

Where a relevant fossil fuel plant is a combined heat and power generating station, EPS annual emissions are—

Eelectricity−(CHPQHO×0.205÷0.9)

where—

  • Eelectricity is the EPS annual emissions calculated in accordance with regulation 7 before the application of this regulation; and

  • CHPQHO is the amount specified as CHP Qualifying Heat Output in a CHPQA certificate applying to the relevant fossil fuel plant for that year (in MWth of thermal output).

Signature

Amber Rudd

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State

Department of Energy and Climate Change

24th March 2015

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

Chapter 8 of Part 2 of the Energy Act 2013 (c 32)(“the Act”) imposes a duty “the emissions limit duty” on operators of fossil fuel plant granted planning consent on or after 18th February 2014, to ensure that its annual emissions of carbon dioxide attributable to fossil fuels do not exceed an amount (“the emissions limit”) determined according to a formula set out in section 57(2) of the Act.

Part 1

Part 1 of these Regulations contains definitions used in these Regulations and provides that Parts 1 and 2 of these Regulations extend to the United Kingdom, while Part 3 applies to England only.

Part 2

Regulation 3 applies the emissions limit duty to upgrades or alterations to generating units of existing fossil fuel plants, where a main boiler in the generating unit is replaced or an additional main boiler is installed. The regulation does not apply to those fossil fuel plants which are already considered to be fossil fuel plants within the scope of the emissions limit duty as subject to a relevant consent. The regulation excludes plant that is ancillary to the function of the fossil fuel plant as a generating station but is to be used for safety purposes or in an emergency.

Regulation 4 modifies the emissions limit where particular conditions apply during a year. It is possible for more than one of the modifications to apply during a year.

Regulation 5 makes provision for when a gasification plant should be considered as associated with a relevant fossil fuel plant.

Regulation 6 exempts from the emissions limit duty generating units with a complete CCS system. Generating units not covered by a complete CCS system within the same fossil fuel plant continue to be subject to the emissions limit duty.

Regulation 7 sets out which emissions are relevant in determining whether a fossil fuel plant has breached the emissions limit duty (the “EPS annual emissions”). The relevant emissions are those emissions of carbon dioxide which are the direct result of operations and processes carried out in the generation of electricity and any from a gasification plant which produces fuel for a fossil fuel plant, where the gasification plant’s emissions in respect of the fossil fuel used by the gasification plant in supplying the generating plant are not otherwise included in the EPS annual emissions for the fossil fuel plant.

Regulation 8 provides for a reduction in the EPS annual emissions for fossil fuel plants which are combined heat and power plants, based on the amount of good quality heat produced by the plant in a given year.

Part 3

Part 3 creates a monitoring and enforcement regime for England.

Regulation 9 sets out the circumstances in which a fossil fuel plant operator must supply a notification to the Environment Agency. The notification must state the emissions limit for the fossil fuel plant, its installed generating capacity and the date on which it commenced or is expected to commence generation.

Regulation 10 makes provision for notifications to be given to the Environment Agency in relation to a complete CCS system, including to which generating units any exemption should apply.

Regulation 11 makes provision for the supply of a detailed emissions notification, an “EPS annual emissions notification”, containing the EPS annual emissions of a fossil fuel plant calculated in accordance with Part 2 of the Regulations and the methods of assessment and calculation used for the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. An EPS annual emissions notification will only have to be submitted if the Green House Gas Emissions Report for the fossil fuel plant discloses greater carbon dioxide emissions that the emissions limit for that plant.

Regulation 12 provides for the Secretary of State to establish a charging scheme for operation by the Environment Agency when carrying out functions under these Regulations.

Regulation 13 allows the Environment Agency to request further information from the operator of a fossil fuel plant, or the operator of an associated fossil fuel plant.

Regulation 14 allows for enforcement notices to be issued by the Environment Agency where an operator of a fossil fuel plant has breached the emissions limit duty.

Regulation 15 makes provision for the Environment Agency to issue civil penalties, where an operator of a fossil fuel plant has breached the emissions limit duty. The Secretary of State may publish guidance on financial penalties, to which the Environment Agency must have regard.

Regulation 16 provides for the effect of directions made by the Secretary of State under section 59(2) of the Energy Act 2013 suspending the operation of the emissions limit duty.

Regulation 17 makes provision for appeals against enforcement notices and civil penalty notices to the First-tier Tribunal.

Regulation 18 allows the Environment Agency to publish information in relation to issuing enforcement notices and civil penalty notices, providing that any appeal has been determined or withdrawn, or that the time limit for bringing an appeal has elapsed.

Regulation 19 makes provision for the Environment Agency to enforce information notices, enforcement notices and civil penalty notices by obtaining an order of the High Court.

Regulation 20 makes amendments to the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations 2012, to allow for information disclosure and publication as necessary for the performance of the Environment Agency’s functions under Part 3 of these Regulations.

Regulation 21 brings into force the Schedule which makes provision for the service of documents by the Secretary of State and the Environment Agency under these Regulations. The Environment Agency is given powers elsewhere in the Regulations to prescribe the manner in which operators may serve notifications on it.

An impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available from the Department of Energy and Climate Change at 3 Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2AW and is published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside this instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk/.