The Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD, 2001/80/EC) was a

European Union directive A directive is a legal act of the European Union that requires member states to achieve a particular result without dictating the means of achieving that result. Directives first have to be enacted into national law by member states before thei ...

which required member states of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

to legislatively limit

flue gas Flue gas is the gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue, which is a pipe or channel for conveying exhaust gases from a fireplace, oven, furnace, boiler or steam generator. Quite often, the flue gas refers to the combustion exhaust gas produced a ...

emissions from combustion plant having thermal capacity of 50 MW or greater. The directive applied to

fossil-fuel power station A fossil fuel power station is a thermal power station which burns a fossil fuel, such as coal or natural gas, to produce electricity. Fossil fuel power stations have machinery to convert the heat energy of combustion into mechanical energy, wh ...

s, and other large thermal plant such as

petroleum refineries An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, liquefie ...

and

steelworks A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fini ...

. The directive specified emission limits for

sulphur dioxide Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a toxic gas responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is released naturally by volcanic activ ...

nitrogen oxide Nitrogen oxide may refer to a binary compound of oxygen and nitrogen, or a mixture of such compounds: Charge-neutral *Nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen(II) oxide, or nitrogen monoxide *Nitrogen dioxide (), nitrogen(IV) oxide * Nitrogen trioxide (), or n ...

s, and dust. The directive was issued in October 2001. It replaced the earlier

EEC The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

directive on large combustion plants, 88/609/EEC, issued in November 1988. Under the terms of the directive, combustion plant built after 1987 had to comply with specific emissions limits. From 2007, plant built earlier than that could either opt to comply with the emissions limits, or "opt out". Plant which opted out were limited to a maximum of 20,000 hours of further operation, and had to close completely by the end of 2015. Across Europe, 205 plants have opted out, with Britain having the largest proportion of opted-out plant in terms of total capacity. The Large Combustion Plant Directive was superseded by the

Industrial Emissions Directive The Industrial Emissions Directive (Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control)) is a European Union directive which commits Europea ...

on 1 January 2016.

UK opted-out plant

The nine opted-out generating stations supplying the National Grid were: Opted-out plant exists at four other sites; however, only certain plant at these sites is affected. *

Ballylumford power station Ballylumford power station is a natural gas, natural-gas-fired power station in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, UK. With its main plant generating 600 megawatts of electricity, it is Northern Ireland's largest power station and provides half i ...

, * boilers 15 & 16 at Slough Heat & Power Ltd, * boiler 3 at BP's

Coryton Refinery Coryton Refinery was an oil refinery in Essex, England, on the estuary of the River Thames from central London, between Shell Haven Creek and Hole Haven Creek, which separates Canvey Island from the mainland. It was a part of the Port of Lond ...

Stanford-le-Hope Stanford-le-Hope is a town, former civil parish and Church of England parish situated in the county of Essex, England. Often known locally simply as Stanford, the town is within the unitary authority of Thurrock and located 23.8 miles (38.4 ...

* an E.ON site at

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Loca ...

References

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External links

Directive 2001/80/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
Environmental law in the European Union European Union directives