The energy company is opting out of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) for Aberthaw, Didcot B and four combined heat and power plants. It has entered them into the Limited Life Derogation, which means they can run for 17,500 hours from 1 January 2016 or until the end of 2023 without upgrades to cut SO2, NOx and particulate emissions.
The decision is not final, however. RWE has until the end of 2015 to decide instead to comply with the directive or enter the plants into UK government’s Transitional National Plan (TNP).
Kevin Nix, managing director of generation UK, said: “These are very important decisions and we have thought long and hard about what is right for our business, our power stations, and our people. We welcome the flexibility provided by the UK government in allowing a final decision to be made by the end of 2015.
“Only once we have political clarity on how the energy market will operate under the government’s new energy legislation, as well as under other political changes to be enacted, will we be able to make that final decision with confidence.”
The company closed Tilbury, Didcot A and Fawley power stations in 2013. Littlebrook is opted out of the Large Combustion Plant Directive, which means it must follow by 2015.
RWE’s Little Barford and Great Yarmouth gas-fired power plants are in the TNP and have until 2020 to comply with the tighter emissions standards demanded by the IED.
Newer gas plants Pembroke and Staythorpe are not subject to the legislation.