This Directive shall apply to combustion plants, the rated thermal input of which is equal to or greater than 50 MW, irrespective of the type of fuel used (solid, liquid or gaseous).
Directive 2001/80/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2001 on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion plants
Directive 2001/80/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2001 on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion plants
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 175(1) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),
Having regard to the Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(2),
Having consulted the Committee of the Regions,
Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty(3), in the light of the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee on 2 August 2001,
Whereas:
Council Directive 88/609/EEC of 24 November 1988 on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion plants(4) has contributed to the reduction and control of atmospheric emissions from large combustion plants. It should be recast in the interests of clarity.
The Fifth Environmental Action Programme(5) sets as objectives that the critical loads and levels of certain acidifying pollutants such as sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) should not be exceeded at any time and, as regards air quality, that all people should be effectively protected against recognised health risks from air pollution.
All Member States have signed the Gothenburg Protocol of 1 December 1999 to the 1979 Convention of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) on long-range transboundary air pollution to abate acidification, eutrophication and ground-level ozone, which includes, inter alia, commitments to reduce emissions of sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen.
The Commission has published a Communication on a Community strategy to combat acidification in which the revision of Directive 88/609/EEC was identified as being an integral component of that strategy with the long term aim of reducing emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides sufficiently to bring depositions and concentrations down to levels below the critical loads and levels.
In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty, the objective of reducing acidifying emissions from large combustion plants cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States acting individually and unconcerted action offers no guarantee of achieving the desired objective; in view of the need to reduce acidifying emissions across the Community, it is more effective to take action at Community level.
Existing large combustion plants are significant contributors to emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in the Community and it is necessary to reduce these emissions. It is therefore necessary to adapt the approach to the different characteristics of the large combustion plant sector in the Member States.
Council Directive 96/61/EC of 24 September 1996 concerning integrated pollution prevention and control(6) sets out an integrated approach to pollution prevention and control in which all the aspects of an installation's environmental performance are considered in an integrated manner; combustion installations with a rated thermal input exceeding 50 MW are included within the scope of that Directive; pursuant to Article 15(3) of that Directive an inventory of the principal emissions and sources responsible is to be published every three years by the Commission on the basis of data supplied by the Member States. Pursuant to Article 18 of that Directive, acting on a proposal from the Commission, the Council will set emission limit values in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Treaty for which the need for Community action has been identified, on the basis, in particular, of the exchange of information provided for in Article 16 of that Directive.
Compliance with the emission limit values laid down by this Directive should be regarded as a necessary but not sufficient condition for compliance with the requirements of Directive 96/61/EC regarding the use of best available techniques. Such compliance may involve more stringent emission limit values, emission limit values for other substances and other media, and other appropriate conditions.
Industrial experience in the implementation of techniques for the reduction of polluting emissions from large combustion plants has been acquired over a period of 15 years.
The Protocol on heavy metals to the UNECE Convention on long-range transboundary air pollution recommends the adoption of measures to reduce heavy metals emitted by certain installations. It is known that benefits from reducing dust emissions by dust abatement equipment will provide benefits on reducing particle-bound heavy metal emissions.
Installations for the production of electricity represent an important part of the large combustion plant sector.
Directive 96/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 1996 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity(7) is intended inter alia to have the effect of distributing new production capacity among new arrivals in the sector.
The Community is committed to a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. Where it is feasible the combined production of heat and electricity represents a valuable opportunity for significantly improving overall efficiency in fuel use.
A significant increase in the use of natural gas for producing electricity is already underway and is likely to continue, in particular through the use of gas turbines.
In view of the increase in energy production from biomass, specific emission standards for this fuel are justified.
The Council Resolution of 24 February 1997 on a Community strategy for waste management(8) emphasises the need for promoting waste recovery and states that appropriate emission standards should apply to the operation of facilities in which waste is incinerated in order to ensure a high level of protection for the environment.
Industrial experience has been gained concerning techniques and equipment for the measurement of the principal pollutants emitted by large combustion plants; the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) has undertaken work with the aim of providing a framework securing comparable measurement results within the Community and guaranteeing a high level of quality of such measurements.
There is a need to improve knowledge concerning the emission of the principal pollutants from large combustion plants. In order to be genuinely representative of the level of pollution of an installation, such information should also be associated with knowledge concerning its energy consumption.
This Directive is without prejudice to the time limits within which the Member States must transpose and implement Directive 88/609/EEC,
HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
Article 1
Article 2
For the purpose of this Directive:
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‘emission’ means the discharge of substances from the combustion plant into the air;
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‘waste gases’ means gaseous discharges containing solid, liquid or gaseous emissions; their volumetric flow rates shall be expressed in cubic metres per hour at standard temperature (273 K) and pressure (101,3 kPa) after correction for the water vapour content, hereinafter referred to as (Nm3/h);
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‘emission limit value’ means the permissible quantity of a substance contained in the waste gases from the combustion plant which may be discharged into the air during a given period; it shall be calculated in terms of mass per volume of the waste gases expressed in mg/Nm3, assuming an oxygen content by volume in the waste gas of 3 % in the case of liquid and gaseous fuels, 6 % in the case of solid fuels and 15 % in the case of gas turbines;
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‘rate of desulphurisation’ means the ratio of the quantity of sulphur which is not emitted into the air at the combustion plant site over a given period to the quantity of sulphur contained in the fuel which is introduced into the combustion plant facilities and which is used over the same period;
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‘operator’ means any natural or legal person who operates the combustion plant, or who has or has been delegated decisive economic power over it;
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‘fuel’ means any solid, liquid or gaseous combustible material used to fire the combustion plant with the exception of waste covered by Council Directive 89/369/EEC of 8 June 1989 on the prevention of air pollution from new municipal waste incineration plants(9), Council Directive 89/429/EEC of 21 June 1989 on the reduction of air pollution from existing municipal waste incineration plants(10), and Council Directive 94/67/EC of 16 December 1994 concerning the incineration of hazardous waste(11) or any subsequent Community act repealing and replacing one or more of these Directives;
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‘combustion plant’ means any technical apparatus in which fuels are oxidised in order to use the heat thus generated.
This Directive shall apply only to combustion plants designed for production of energy with the exception of those which make direct use of the products of combustion in manufacturing processes. In particular, this Directive shall not apply to the following combustion plants:
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plants in which the products of combustion are used for the direct heating, drying, or any other treatment of objects or materials e.g. reheating furnaces, furnaces for heat treatment;
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post-combustion plants i.e. any technical apparatus designed to purify the waste gases by combustion which is not operated as an independent combustion plant;
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facilities for the regeneration of catalytic cracking catalysts;
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facilities for the conversion of hydrogen sulphide into sulphur;
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reactors used in the chemical industry;
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coke battery furnaces;
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cowpers;
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any technical apparatus used in the propulsion of a vehicle, ship or aircraft;
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gas turbines used on offshore platforms;
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gas turbines licensed before 27 November 2002 or which in the view of the competent authority are the subject of a full request for a licence before 27 November 2002 provided that the plant is put into operation no later than 27 November 2003 without prejudice to Article 7(1) and Annex VIII(A) and (B);
Plants powered by diesel, petrol and gas engines shall not be covered by this Directive.
Where two or more separate new plants are installed in such a way that, taking technical and economic factors into account, their waste gases could, in the judgement of the competent authorities, be discharged through a common stack, the combination formed by such plants shall be regarded as a single unit;
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‘multi-fuel firing unit’ means any combustion plant which may be fired simultaneously or alternately by two or more types of fuel;
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‘new plant’ means any combustion plant for which the original construction licence or, in the absence of such a procedure, the original operating licence was granted on or after 1 July 1987;
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‘existing plant’ means any combustion plant for which the original construction licence or, in the absence of such a procedure, the original operating licence was granted before 1 July 1987;
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‘biomass’ means products consisting of any whole or part of a vegetable matter from agriculture or forestry which can be used as a fuel for the purpose of recovering its energy content and the following waste used as a fuel:
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vegetable waste from agriculture and forestry;
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vegetable waste from the food processing industry, if the heat generated is recovered;
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fibrous vegetable waste from virgin pulp production and from production of paper from pulp, if it is co-incinerated at the place of production and the heat generated is recovered;
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cork waste;
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wood waste with the exception of wood waste which may contain halogenated organic compounds or heavy metals as a result of treatment with wood preservatives or coating, and which includes in particular such wood waste originating from construction and demolition waste;
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‘gas turbine’ means any rotating machine which converts thermal energy into mechanical work, consisting mainly of a compressor, a thermal device in which fuel is oxidised in order to heat the working fluid, and a turbine.
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‘Outermost Regions’ means the French Overseas Departments with regard to France, the Azores and Madeira with regard to Portugal and the Canary Islands with regard to Spain.
Article 3
1.
Not later than 1 July 1990 Member States shall draw up appropriate programmes for the progressive reduction of total annual emissions from existing plants. The programmes shall set out the timetables and the implementing procedures.
2.
In accordance with the programmes mentioned in paragraph 1, Member States shall continue to comply with the emission ceilings and with the corresponding percentage reductions laid down for sulphur dioxide in Annex I, columns 1 to 6, and for oxides of nitrogen in Annex II, columns 1 to 4, by the dates specified in those Annexes, until the implementation of the provisions of Article 4 that apply to existing plants.
3.
When the programmes are being carried out, Member States shall also determine the total annual emissions in accordance with Annex VIII(C).
4.
4. If a substantial and unexpected change in energy demand or in the availability of certain fuels or certain generating installations creates serious technical difficulties for the implementation by a Member State of its programme drawn up under paragraph 1, the Commission shall, at the request of the Member State concerned and taking into account the terms of the request, take a decision to modify, for that Member State, the emission ceilings and/or the dates set out in Annexes I and II and communicate its decision to the Council and to the Member States. Any Member State may within three months refer the decision of the Commission to the Council. The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may within three months take a different decision.
Article 4
1.
Without prejudice to Article 17 Member States shall take appropriate measures to ensure that all licences for the construction or, in the absence of such a procedure, for the operation of new plants which in the view of the competent authority are the subject of a full request for a licence before 27 November 2002, provided that the plant is put into operation no later than 27 November 2003 contain conditions relating to compliance with the emission limit values laid down in part A of Annexes III to VII in respect of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and dust.
2.
Member States shall take appropriate measures to ensure that all licences for the construction or, in the absence of such a procedure, for the operation of new plants, other than those covered by paragraph 1, contain conditions relating to compliance with the emission limit values laid down in part B of Annexes III to VII in respect of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and dust.
3.
Without prejudice to Directive 96/61/EC and Council Directive 96/62/EC of 27 September 1996 on ambient air quality assessment and management(12), Member States shall, by 1 January 2008 at the latest, achieve significant emission reductions by:
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taking appropriate measures to ensure that all licences for the operation of existing plants contain conditions relating to compliance with the emission limit values established for new plants referred to in paragraph 1; or
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ensuring that existing plants are subject to the national emission reduction plan referred to in paragraph 6;
and, where appropriate, applying Articles 5, 7 and 8.
4.
Without prejudice to Directives 96/61/EC and 96/62/EC, existing plants may be exempted from compliance with the emission limit values referred to in paragraph 3 and from their inclusion in the national emission reduction plan on the following conditions:
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the operator of an existing plant undertakes, in a written declaration submitted by 30 June 2004 at the latest 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;
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the operator is required to submit each year to the competent authority a record of the used and unused time allowed for the plants' remaining operational life.
5.
Member States may require compliance with emission limit values and time limits for implementation which are more stringent than those set out in paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4 and in Article 10. They may include other pollutants, and they may impose additional requirements or adaptation of plant to technical progress.
6.
Member States may, without prejudice to this Directive and Directive 96/61/EC, and taking into consideration the costs and benefits as well as their obligations under Directive 2001/81/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2001 on national emission ceilings for certain atmospheric pollutants(13) and Directive 96/62/EC, define and implement a national emission reduction plan for existing plants, taking into account, inter alia, compliance with the ceilings as set out in Annexes I and II.
The national emission reduction plan shall reduce the total annual emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and dust from existing plants to the levels that would have been achieved by applying the emission limit values referred to in paragraph 3 to the existing plants in operation in the year 2000, (including those existing plants undergoing a rehabilitation plan in 2000, approved by the competent authority, to meet emission reductions required by national legislation) on the basis of each plant's actual annual operating time, fuel used and thermal input, averaged over the last five years of operation up to and including 2000.
The closure of a plant included in the national emission reduction plan shall not result in an increase in the total annual emissions from the remaining plants covered by the plan.
The national emission reduction plan may under no circumstances exempt a plant from the provisions laid down in relevant Community legislation, including inter alia Directive 96/61/EC.
The following conditions shall apply to national emission reduction plans:
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the plan shall comprise objectives and related targets, measures and timetables for reaching these objectives and targets, and a monitoring mechanism;
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Member States shall communicate their national emission reduction plan to the Commission no later than 27 November 2003;
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within six months of the communication referred to in point (b) the Commission shall evaluate whether or not the plan meets the requirements of this paragraph. When the Commission considers that this is not the case, it shall inform the Member State and within the subsequent three months the Member State shall communicate any measures it has taken in order to ensure that the requirements of this paragraph are met;
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the Commission shall, no later than 27 November 2002, develop guidelines to assist Member States in the preparation of their plans.
7.
Not later than 31 December 2004 and in the light of progress towards protecting human health and attaining the Community's environmental objectives for acidification and for air quality pursuant to Directive 96/62/EC, the Commission shall submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council in which it shall assess:
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the need for further measures;
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the amounts of heavy metals emitted by large combustion plants;
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the cost-effectiveness and costs and advantages of further emission reductions in the combustion plants sector in Member States compared to other sectors;
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the technical and economic feasibility of such emission reductions;
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the effects of both the standards set for the large combustion plants sector including the provisions for indigenous solid fuels, and the competition situation in the energy market, on the environment and the internal market;
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any national emission reduction plans provided by Member States in accordance with paragraph 6.
The Commission shall include in its report an appropriate proposal of possible end dates or of lower limit values for the derogation contained in footnote 2 to Annex VI A.
8.
The report referred to in paragraph 7 shall, as appropriate, be accompanied by related proposals, having regard to Directive 96/61/EC.