Statement on the adoption of the BAT conclusions of LCP BREF by the Article 75 Forum in accordance with the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED)

The European requirements for emissions from power plants were adopted on28 April 2017 by the member states in the context of the LCP-BREF (Large Combustion Plants - Best Available Techniques Reference Document) revision process, at the proposal of the EU Commission.

  • New regulation harmonises EU air quality rules

  • Necessary technical-scientifically justified corrections were not carried out

The European requirements for emissions from power plants were adopted on 28 April 2017 by the member states in the context of the LCP-BREF (Large Combustion Plants - Best Available Techniques Reference Document) revision process, at the proposal of the EU Commission.

The emission requirements for nitrogen oxides at existing lignite fuelled power plants and those for mercury at lignite and hard coal fuelled power plants go significantly beyond the level of technical and economic feasibility required by the European Directive. The identification of the best available techniques (BATs) and the associated emission bandwidths was a central issue in the LCP-BREF process. With regard to the substances mentioned, the criticism of how the bandwidths were deduced, which was comprehensively founded on a scientific basis and contributed to the process, has not been sufficiently taken into account. The emission bandwidths stipulated are therefore considerably too low.

We regret that the objectively necessary and technically and commercially justified corrections have not been made. The German government has also requested corrections with regard to nitrogen oxides at existing lignite fuelled power plants.

We are now relying on a certain amount of discretion in the implementation of the new EU requirements in national law, so as to avoid premature closure of power stations as a result of inappropriate emission requirements.

The national implementation should be oriented towards the upper emission bandwidths, above all in the cases of nitrogen oxides and mercury.