Large Combustion Plants Directive

Legislation

Summary of Directive 2001/80/EC on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion plants (the LCP Directive)

The overall aim of the LCP Directive is to reduce emissions of acidifying pollutants, particles, and ozone precursors. Control of emissions from large combustion plants - those whose rated thermal input is equal to or greater than 50 MW - plays an important role in the Union's efforts to combat acidification, eutrophication and ground-level ozone as part of the overall strategy to reduce air pollution.

The LCP Directive entered into force on 27 November 2001. It replaced the old Directive on large combustion plants (Directive 88/609/EEC as amended by Directive 94/66/EC).

The LCP Directive encourages the combined generation of heat and power and sets specific emission limit values for the use of biomass as fuel. It also includes certain gas turbines in its scope in order to regulate NOX emissions.

In particular, the LCP Directive contains the following provisions:

Plants licensed after 27 November 2002 have to comply with the (stricter) emission limit values for SO2, NOx and dust fixed in part B of the Annexes III to VII.
Plants licensed after 1 July 1987 and before 27 November 2002, have to comply with the (less strict) emission limit values fixed in part A of the Annexes III to VII of the LCP Directive.
The LCP Directive requires significant emission reductions from "existing plants" (licensed before 1 July 1987) to be achieved by 1 January 2008:
a) by individual compliance with the emission limit values established for new plants referred to in point 2 above (1987-2002), or
b) through a national emission reduction plan (NERP) that achieves overall reductions calculated using the emission limit values.

The Commission considers that it is possible to adopt a "combined approach" for the implementation of the LCP Directive for existing plants, which may consist of:

a) applying a national emission reduction plan for some plants and an emission limit value approach for others for all the compliance periods (2008-2015, 2016-2017, and 2018 onwards), or
b) adopting a national emission reduction plan for a/some compliance period(s) and complying with emission limit values for the rest of the compliance periods, or
c) mixing options a) and b) above.

A national emission reduction plan, whether used alone or as part of a combined approach, must address all the three pollutants covered by the Directive for all the plants covered by the plan.

The LCP Directive allows existing combustion plants to be exempted from compliance with emission limit values and from inclusion in a national emission reduction plan, provided that the operator undertakes not to operate the plant for more than 20.000 hours starting from 1 January 2008 and ending no later than 31 December 2015.

From 1 January 2008 on, Member States are reporting annually to the Commission on these "opted-out" plants along with the record of the used and unused time allowed for the plants' remaining operational life. The Commission regularly updates the list of the opted out plants on the basis of the information received from Member States, which can be found here.

Legislation

The original legal texts and summary of the LCP directive can be found at the Europa-site. The consolidated version of Directive can be found here.