Is there a coal powered loophole in the energy bill?
The energy bill being discussed in Parliament today is meant to move the country away from fossil fuels and onto a path to “secure, low-carbon energy”. But one MP is warning that a loophole in the legislation could leave the door open to the continued operation of unabated coal-fired power stations.
Much of the discussion of the bill has focused on the pros and cons of burning gas, not coal. The bill includes a clause setting an emissions limit on new power stations – which will rule out the building of new coal power stations without carbon limiting measures.
But the legislation may allow older coal power stations to stay open and escape the emissions limit, according to Labour MP Barry Gardiner, who has introduced an amendment that would rule out this possibility.
The end of coal in the UK?
Wind the clock back five years and the UK was gripped by a political debate over the construction of a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent.
After intense lobbying energy company E-ON shelved the plans, and an emissions performance standard (EPS) was promised by government. It will limit annual greenhouse gas emissions from any new power station to 450g per kilowatt hour of electricity. That’s about half what a coal power stations emits.
This gives companies that want to build new coal power limited options – install expensive capture and storage (CCS) technology, combine burning coal with burning biomass, or run the power station for only part of the year. Or, more likely, build gas plants instead.
At the same time, European legislation designed to cut other kinds of pollution has affected existing coal power stations. Eight UK coal-fired power stations are due to close over the next few years as a result of the Large Combustion Plants Directive (LCPD).
This requires coal power stations to limit the release of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and dust particles because they cause health problems like respiratory diseases. If they can’t clean up, they have to close down.
The old coal loophole
But despite these bits of legislation, unabated coal power may survive. Some existing coal power stations will apply technologies that filter out nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide, allowing them to stay open. And because they’re already built, the EPS won’t apply to them.
This could mean more carbon emissions, particularly if coal continues to be cheaper than gas. Over the last year, the country has seen a switch to coal for power generation as the price of coal has fallen and the price of gas has gone up.
Barry Gardiner’s amendment to the energy bill would extend the EPS to include coal plants that cut their nitrogen oxide and sulphur dioxide emissions. Operators that choose to clean up their stations and keep them open will also need to reduce their carbon emissions.
The government doesn’t support the measure
The government argues that the amendment would be damaging, as it would undermine existing investment in the energy industry. The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) tells Carbon Brief:
“Applying EPS retrospectively to existing coal plants could undermine existing investments, which we think would impact negatively on the UK’s competitiveness, security of supply and costs to consumers”.
DECC argues that the policies contained within the energy bill will result in old coal power stations being replaced by gas power stations anyway, without needing to use the EPS – although it doesn’t tell us why.
DECC also argues that the carbon price floor will promote investment in low carbon power and squeeze out coal. The TUC recently told the Telegraph that they expect most old coal power stations to close down before 2023, because of the carbon price floor.
But Gardiner says that the price set by the government is too low to end coal use. Calling it “the most insane piece of legislation” he argues that it puts British business at a disadvantage, without forcing operators to close down their polluting coal power stations.
What’s going to happen?
Gardiner’s amendment only applies to old coal power stations that are cleaned up to prevent them emitting pollutants harmful to health. The Telegraph suggests that this could be up to 20 GW of coal capacity – that’s potentially quite a lot of carbon emissions.
It’s worth noting that the energy bill already contains a measure requiring operators who upgrade the boilers in their power stations to comply with the EPS. So this may reduce the scale of the problem – depending on what power companies do.
The amendment will be discussed by MPs today. Without government support, it’s unlikely to get voted through. But Gardiner’s hope is that “reasoned debate” in the House of Commons will prevail – and the government promises to introduce the amendment later on in the bill’s passage, in the House of Lords.
If it doesn’t, there does at least seem to be a risk that the energy bill will let an old generation of polluting coal power stations keep emitting for the next decade or so.