Large swathes of the power generation industry could be hugely impacted by a new European Union directive likely to come into force in 2018.
Called the Medium Combustion Plant Directive (MCPD) the directive will have far-reaching implications on power generation among the 28 member states of the European Union and may even have wider scale repercussions worldwide if other countries follow the lead.
Unlike Directive 97/68/EC for non-road mobile machinery, the focus and responsibility of compliance is placed on the operator of power plants and generator sets rather than on the equipment.
The directive is aimed at cutting emissions of sulphur dioxides (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NO) and dust but with the possibility that future regulations could be included to cover carbon monoxide (CO) emissions and minimum energy efficiency.
Called a “comply at all times” directive, it demands that the operator of the equipment continuously monitors and reports the emissions produced. The operator is also responsible for ensuring constant compliance.
Under the directive, generator sets across a power output range of approximately 330 kW to 17 MW will be affected although plants which operate for less than 500 hours annually (or 1000 in cold climates) may be eligible for exemption. The limits imposed by the directive on NO and dust emissions mean that for diesel generator sets, some form of after-treatment solution must be implemented. The directive covers combustion plants between 1 and 50 MW thermal input.
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