Power plant reprieve could be a double-edged sword

London – Proposals by the EU Parliament to extend the introduction of nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions limits to 2019, will be highly controversial and could compromise UK and EU carbon emissions-reduction efforts, a UK process industry leader has warned.

Earlier this month, a European Parliament committee agreed a three-year delay to the imposition of NOx emission targets. The restrictions could have led to the closure of many EU coal-fired power stations, including several in the UK, by 2016.

The decision was in response to strong pressure from the UK’s former Labour government, along with large power companies and business leaders, who wanted to delay the regulation until 2021.

The UK lobby had warned of severe energy shortages if the regulations under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) went ahead. Power generators, they argued, needed until 2021 at the earliest to adapt their facilities, and also establish new low-carbon energy sources such as large-scale wind farms and nuclear stations.

However the committee recommendation, which is still to be ratified by the European Parliament in July, could be a double-edged sword for industry, warns Peter Davis, director general of the British Plastics Federation.

Davis has previously warned that EU emissions regulations would cause the closure of nine coal-fired and oil-fired power stations leading to serious power cuts for UK industry from 2016.

“While the postponement would give the UK some breathing space, ” said Davis, “were were those nine power stations to get a reprieve it would throw the previous Government’s very ambitious carbon reduction target out of the window.”

Davis went on to ask: “Would the Lib Dem Energy Secretary Chris Huhne be happy with that? He is unhappy about replacing our aged nuclear power stations with new ones. Then again he doesn’t want to preside over power cuts in five-six years’ time.

“Were there to be an extension my worry is everybody would relax and there wouldn’t be dynamic action to get more nuclear built and a big increase in gas storage - such is the British way.”

In a recent speech, the BPF leader urged companies to plan now for the risk of power cuts from 2016. The UK, he argued, has been too slow in developing new gas storage and power generation capacity, and will struggle now to plug the emerging energy gap.

Companies will have to consider: reducing their use of energy; installing generators; considering renewables such as windmills and solar panels, said Davis, Another option, he suggested, was for companies to arrange a priority feed from one of the new Local Energy from Waste plants.

“The plastics industry is a strategically crucial sector manufacturing materials for the packaging of foodstuffs, parts for cars and aeroplanes, building components and medical equipment. “If the plastics industry stops, many customer industries and, indeed, daily life, could grind to a halt,” Davis told a BPF Energy Management seminar on 12 May.

Davis called on the new Government to support the construction of a new generation of nuclear power stations “to keep the lights on and meet challenging carbon targets”

He noted that: “Nine oil and coal fired power stations could have to close by 2015, while four out of ten of our ageing nuclear reactors must be decommissioned within six years. Imports of gas will rise from 40% of UK demand to 70% in 2018. Yet we have only gas storage enough for 16 days demand compared with 99 days in Germany and 122 days in France.”

Energy Regulator OFGEM has stated that regular power cuts could start in 2016. Black outs at peak times could mean that every home could be left without power for an average of 40 minutes in 2016, increasing to two hours in 2017. The watchdog has also earned that £200bn of investment is needed urgently for new power generation and storage.

“We need to build two large plants every year,” said Davis. “This should have been foreseen ten years ago. Last week I asked a panel of energy experts at the Materials Knowledge Transfer Network AGM what we should do. Disappointingly they thought the ’Dunkirk spirit’ would get us through as it has done in the past.”