November 2019

Many will know that the Medium Combustion Plant Directive (MCPD) was published by the EU back in November 2015. It then took until January 2018 to be transposed into legislation for England and Wales (Environmental Permitting (E&W)(Amendment) Regs 2018), with a compliance date of 19th December 2018 for ‘new’ combustion plants. Other UK countries laid their own versions of this legislation. MCPD – good for the environment, good for business, or a missed opportunity? Paul Whitehead on behalf of the Combustion Engineering Association (CEA) reports. MCPD – good for the environment, good for business, or a missed opportunity? T he reasons for the Directive are sound and indisputable. The preamble to the Directive said that the air we breathe is not as clean as it should be, and ecosystems continue to suffer from excess nitrogen and sulphur deposition associated with emissions from many sources, including power generation. Average lifetime loss for EU citizens was estimated as 8 months due to air pollution, and this figure may be rising. Furthermore, emissions from medium sized combustion plants were largely unregulated, and biomass was cited as a particular example. So the MCPD was introduced to limit the emissions of NOx, SOx and dust from combustion plants of all types, burning all fuels, within the range of 1 – 50MW nett rated thermal input. Following years of discussions across the EU, target emissions limits (ELVs) and target dates were set, and the rules required all Member States to appoint a Competent Authority for the administration of the process. Compliance Since December last year, any new MCP (boiler, engine or turbine) must now be registered and have a permit issued before it is first fired. The Competent Authority for this activity is the Environment Agency in England, Natural Resources Wales, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency. All four have slightly different ways of 40 | Plant & Works Engineering www.pwemag.co.uk November 2019 Boilers, Burners & Controls Special Supplement SPECIAL FOCUS