The bill emerged unscathed from the House of Lords apart from an amendment to limit the running hours of old coal plants.
A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said the amendment was unnecessary and “could risk unintended consequences”. Government will “set out full reasons for this disagreement” in tomorrows debate.
The addition, proposed by Labour’s Baroness Worthington and the Liberal Democrat Lord Teverson, extends the Emissions Performance Standard to existing coal plants that undergo “significant upgrades”. The restriction would make it less worthwhile for coal generators to invest in the NOx abatement kit that will allow them to stay open beyond 2023, under European legislation.
The government has previously argued that the majority of coal power stations will retire by the early 2020s anyway, as a result of its rising carbon floor price rises and Europe’s Industrial Emissions Directive.
However, coal generation has increased in recent years on the back of cheap supplies, raising concerns about the UK’s ability to meet its carbon budgets.
Steve Riley, chief executive at independent generation company GDF Suez Energy UK-Europe, told Utility Week the proposed restriction could harm security of supply. “We understand the need for decarbonisation but believe coal can continue to play an important role,” he said.