# The Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018, Paragraph 3: Specified activity: exemptions


(1) A specified activity does not include—
(a) peak load and back-up electricity generating installations which operate or are planned to operate under 1,500 operating hours per year as a rolling average over a period of five years,
(b) installations that need to be located close to a geological storage site for which a licence has been granted under section 18 of the Energy Act 2008,
(c) except where the installation or plant forms part of a new or existing district heating and cooling network, the activities in paragraph 2(2) of this schedule carried on at an individual installation or plant, with any of the following—
(i) available waste heat of 100 kilowatts or less,
(ii) available waste heat—
(aa) greater than 100 kilowatts as hot water or steam, where there is no hot water heat demand greater than 100 kilowatts within the search radius from the source installation as set out in Table 1, located within the connection distance from the centre of the source installation, or
(bb) greater than 500 kilowatts as steam where there is no steam-based heat demand greater than 500 kilowatts within the search radius from the centre of the installation as set out in Table 1, located within the connection distance from the centre of the source installation,
(iii) a heat demand of—
(aa) 100 kilowatts or less for a hot water heat demand,
(bb) 500 kilowatts or less for a steam-based heat demand,
(iv) a hot water heat demand greater than 100 kilowatts, with no source of available waste heat greater than 100 kilowatts within the search radius from the centre of the demand installation as set out in Table 1, located within the connection distance from the centre of the demand installation, or
(v) a steam-based heat demand greater than 500 kilowatts, with no source of steam-based waste heat greater than 500 kilowatts within the search radius from the centre of the installation as set out in Table 1, located within the connection distance from the centre of the demand installation,
(2) Where this schedule does not apply to an activity as a result of sub-paragraph (1)(a) or (c), SEPA must take appropriate steps to verify that the exemption criteria are met.
(3) For the purposes of this paragraph—
“connection distance” means—
(a)in the case of a hot water link, the thermal capacity in kilowatts of the source or demand, which is smaller, multiplied by 0.0038,
(b)in the case of steam heat link, the thermal capacity in kilowatts of the source or demand, which is smaller, multiplied by 0.0012,
expressed in kilometres,
“substantially refurbished” means a refurbishment whose cost exceeds 50% of the investment cost for a new comparable unit.
TABLE 1
Search radius
Installation type
Thermal Capacity of heat source/demand
Search radius (kilometres), measured from the centre of the installation
Hot water demand
>100 kilowatts and <3.9 megawatts
0.0038 x H, where H = thermal capacity in kilowatts
≥3.9 megawatts
15
Steam demand
>500 kilowatts and <12.5 megawatts
0.0012 x H, where H = thermal capacity in kilowatts
≥ 12.5 megawatts
15
Waste heat source (hot water or steam)
>100 kilowatts and <3.9 megawatts
0.0038 x H = thermal capacity in kilowatts
≥3.9 megawatts
15

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2018/219/schedule/25/paragraph/3 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/environmental-authorisations-scotland-regulations-2018/schedule-25/paragraph-3
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.