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Air quality - European Directives: Large Combustion Plant Directive

The revised Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD, 2001/80/EC) applies to combustion plants with a thermal output of greater than 50 MW.

What does the LCPD do?

The LCPD aims to reduce acidification, ground level ozone and particles throughout Europe by controlling emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) and dust (particulate matter (PM)) from large combustion plants (LCPs) in power stations, petroleum refineries, steelworks and other industrial processes running on solid, liquid or gaseous fuel.

These pollutants are major contributors to acid deposition, which acidifies soils and freshwater bodies, damages plants and aquatic habitats, and corrodes building materials.

NOx reacts with volatile organic compounds in the presence of sunlight to form ozone that can adversely affect human health and ecosystems.

SO2, NOx and particles can travel long distances from their sources before being deposited onto land, surface waters or oceans, or forming ozone. Emissions from the UK contribute to pollution problems in other Member States, while Germany, Netherlands, France, Ireland and Belgium are the principal non-domestic contributors to sulphur and nitrogen deposition in the UK.

A Europe-wide approach to reducing these pollutants and their impact is therefore required.

The revised LCPD takes into account advances in combustion and abatement technologies.

How does the LCPD reduce emissions?

New combustion plant must meet the emission limit values (ELVs) given in the LCPD. For 'existing' plants (i.e. those in operation pre-1987), Member States can choose to meet the obligations by either:

  1. Complying with ELVs for NOx, SO2, and particles.
  2. Operating within a 'National Plan'. That would set an annual national level of emissions calculated by applying the ELV approach to existing plants, on the basis of those plants' average actual operating hours, fuel used and thermal input, over the 5 years to 2000.
Guidance

Guidance has been published to help those regulating and operating Large Combustion Plants (LCP), although it will also be of interest to others concerned with LCPs.

Implementation

February 2008
The Large Combustion Plants (National Emission Reduction Plan) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007 No. 2325) provide the legal basis for the transfer of annual limits between participating Large Combustion Plants within the UK NERP. A register of participating LCPs has been established which will record these transfers.

Further information can be found on the Environment Agency website.

January 2008
Annex VIII(B) of the Large Combustion Plants Directive requires Member States to establish, starting in 2004 and for each subsequent year, an inventory of SO2, NOx and dust emissions for all combustion plants with a rated thermal input of 50MW or more.
The first annual submission of this information, which was sent by the due date of 31 December 2007, is available on the Central Data Repository (CDR) of the Eionet website.

19 December 2007
Update No. 1, to the Final UK National Plan sent to the European Commission on 28 February 2006. This includes replacement tables showing the emission allowance allocated by the Secretary of State to each plant participating in the NERP.

31 October 2007
Following the consultation on establishing the operation of the UK National Emission Reduction Plan (NERP) the Large Combustion Plants (National Emission Reduction Plan) Regulations 2007 came into force on 10 September 2007 and on 31 October 2007 the following direction was given to the Environment Agency: The Pollution Prevention and Control (Combustion Plants) (England) Directions 2007

27 February 2007
In 2007 Defra held a consultation outlining the proposed operation of the UK National Emission Reduction Plan (NERP) under the Large Combustion Plants Directive (LCPD),  and including the Large Combustion Plants (National Emission Reduction Plan) Regulations 2007. The NERP enables plant operators to trade emission allowances for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates, while preventing them from emitting an amount of these pollutants that is greater than that for which they hold emission allowances.  The documents below are being retained for reference, as they describe the operation of the NERP, which was established following the consultation.

1 March 2006 - The UK LCPD package was sent to the European Commission on 28 February 2006. For further information see the following documents:

Transposition

The LCPD was transposed in 2002 by Directions given by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to the Environment Agency for England and Wales.

Opt out Article 4(4) directive 2001/80/EC

Article 4(4) of the LCPD provides for operators of existing plants to be exempted from compliance with ELVs or a NERP if they made a written declaration by 30 June 2004 to the competent authority not to operate the plant for more than 20,000 operational hours starting from 1 January 2008 and ending no later than 31 December 2015.

  • Defra directed the Environment Agency that such declarations may be withdrawn by 30 June 2005 (subsequently amended to 31 December 2005).
Links

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Page last modified: 14 April 2008
Page published: 29 May 2002

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs