Generators Adret and Berangere, both owned by GF Energy, falsely claimed to have all the relevant planning permission in place ahead of the government’s first capacity auction in 2014.
Ofgem found that Berangere – which secured contracts for three generating units – did not have planning consent for one of these units. The unit will now have its capacity agreement terminated and Berangere will be banned from entering this unit for the next two years. Meanwhile, Adret also falsely claimed that one of its three units had the correct planning permission in place – but this unit was not successful at auction.
A statement from parent company GF Energy said that both Adret and Berangere are “grateful” to Ofgem for taking into account the mitigating circumstances surrounding their breach and opting to impose the minimum penalty that capacity market rules allow.
The firm said that in the case of one of the breaches planning permission was subsequently granted months before Ofgem began its investigation. In the other, it said it had written communication from the planning authorities saying that the sites in question were acceptable. But the firm admits that it was still in breach of the rules.
The fresh ruling comes as a second blow to parent company GF Energy which is understood to have close links with diesel-power developer Green Frog Power which has already been excluded from the capacity auction.
The inclusion of diesel generators in the UK’s capacity auction has raised concerns in the market that public money is being used to support polluting technologies at the expense of large-scale gas-fired power generation which is needed to fill the gap left by coal plant closures.
The latest generator ban follows Ofgem’s March findings that UK Capacity Reserve should face a two year ban from submitting 11 of its generating units into the UK capacity auctions, after the company was also found to have submitted false information in the first auction round.
The regulator said that 11 of UKCR’s 96 units which were submitted into the auction also did not have planning permission in place.