* Six draft
National Policy Statements to guide planning decisions on energy
infrastructure
* Ten sites named as potentially suitable for
new nuclear
* A Framework for the Development of Clean Coal
Faster and fairer planning decisions on new energy infrastructure
were a step closer today as Energy and Climate Secretary Ed
Miliband laid before Parliament draft texts setting out the
national need for a low carbon secure energy mix. He also set out
an ambitious new policy for the transition to clean coal.
The draft National Policy Statements (NPSs) published today are a
crucial part of reforms that will remove unnecessary planning
delays facing large energy proposals. They will be the basis on
which individual planning decisions are made from next March by
the new Infrastructure Planning Commission.
To meet our low carbon energy challenge, and due to the
intermittency of wind, we will need significantly more generating
capacity in the longer term. One third of that larger future
generating capacity must be consented and built over the next 15
years to 2025. While there are already proposals to build more
energy infrastructure, more is needed to bring about the shift to
a low carbon future. The NPSs include clear direction towards a
massive expansion in renewables, a new nuclear programme based
around ten sites assessed as potentially suitable for new build
and a programme to demonstrate clean coal technology.
Mr Miliband said:
"The threat of climate change means we need to make a
transition from a system that relies heavily on high carbon fossil
fuels, to a radically different system that includes nuclear,
renewable and clean coal power.
"Change is also needed for energy security. In a world
where our North Sea reserves are declining, a more diverse low
carbon energy mix is a more secure energy mix, less vulnerable to
fluctuations in the availability of any one fuel.
"In exploiting new technologies we can also lock green
jobs and growth, not carbon, into the UK's future energy sector.
"The current planning system is a barrier to this shift.
It serves neither the interests of energy security, the interests
of the low carbon transition, nor the interests of people living
in areas where infrastructure may be built, for the planning
process to take years to come to a decision.
"That is why we are undertaking fundamental reform of
the planning system which will result in a more efficient,
transparent and accessible process.
"And our new policy framework for clean coal will drive
the development of CCS which will be essential for reducing the
impact of coal-fired power stations on the environment."
Six NPSs are published - one overarching and one for each of the
following areas: fossil fuels, nuclear, renewables, transmission
networks and oil and gas pipelines - alongside the
Government's final Framework for the Development of Clean Coal.
The new system will be faster and fairer for everyone involved:
* Decisions on proposals bigger than 50 megawatts (or 100
megawatts for offshore wind) will be reduced from two years,
sometimes much more, to one year.
* Clearer and better opportunities for the public and local
communities to have their say.
* Up to £300 million a year will be saved in unnecessary expense
incurred by UK industry.
Housing and Planning Minister, John Healey, who led the Planning
Bill through Parliament, said:
"The course of our country's future will be set
by investments in new energy sources, water supplies, ports,
railways and other transport networks. The National Policy
Statements do what they say on the tin - they are
Britain's policy blueprints within which the
Infrastructure Planning Commission will run a faster and fairer
planning system, with fuller public scrutiny of larger
developments.
"Instead of major projects going through, three, four,
five separate applications, sometimes sequentially, there is now
one single consent system, with one full expert and public
examination. This includes new steps that require open public
consultation before applications can even be submitted."
NEW NUCLEAR POWER
The draft Nuclear NPS sets out why new nuclear power is needed,
and that the Government is satisfied that effective arrangements
will exist to manage and dispose of the waste that will be
produced by new nuclear power stations.
It is the only site-specific energy NPS. A rigorous Strategic
Siting Assessment has been carried out by the Government focussed
on sites that are deployable by the end of 2025 to meet our
pressing climate change and energy security goals. The assessment
looked at exclusionary and discretionary criteria, a Habitats
Directive assessment and an Appraisal of Sustainability, and took
on board advice from the Regulators and inputs from a Public
Comments Window.
Ten of the eleven sites nominated by industry in March have been
assessed as potentially suitable for new nuclear deployment by the
end of 2025: Bradwell, Braystones, Hartlepool, Heysham, Hinkley
Point, Kirksanton, Oldbury, Sellafield, Sizewell and Wylfa.
Dungeness was nominated but has not been listed as the Government
does not consider that potential environmental impacts at this
site can be mitigated. The Government also has concerns about
coastal erosion and associated flood risk at that nominated site.
Following a rigorous independent study in line with the Habitats
Directive, three alternative sites were identified as worthy of
further consideration: Druridge Bay in Northumberland, Kingsnorth
in Kent and Owston Ferry in South Yorkshire. It was concluded that
all of them have serious impediments, none of them is credible for
deployment by the end of 2025, nor are they necessary for our
plans, and they have not been listed in the draft Nuclear NPS.
A consultation on the Secretary of State's proposed
decision that two nuclear power station designs are Justified
under the Justification of Practices Involving Ionising Radiation
Regulations 2004 is also launched today. The benefits and health
detriments of each of the two designs have been assessed and the
Secretary of State has considered whether they are Justified
according to EU legislation. The consultation seeks views on the
proposed decision, and the evidence on which it is based.
CLEAN COAL
Alongside the NPSs, a Framework for the Development of Clean Coal
is published setting out the most environmentally ambitious set of
coal conditions of any country in the world. Following the
consultation in June, today's document confirms:
No new coal without Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS):
With immediate effect, to gain development consent all new coal
plant will have to show that they will demonstrate the full CCS
chain (capture, transport and storage) from the outset on at least
300 MW net of their total output.
A programme of up to four commercial-scale CCS demonstrations,
including both pre-combustion and post-combustion capture
technologies, will be funded by a new CCS Incentive. Legislation
to introduce this has been proposed for the forthcoming
Parliamentary session.
A long term transition to clean coal:
We expect the demonstration plants will retrofit CCS to their
full capacity by 2025, with the CCS Incentive able to provide
financial support for their retrofit.
A rolling review process, which is planned to report by 2018,
will consider the case for new regulatory and financial measures
to further drive the move to clean coal. In the event that CCS is
evidently not going to become a viable technology option, an
appropriate regulatory approach for managing emissions from coal
power stations will be needed.
Also confirmed today is that the Government has received two bids
- from E.ON and Scottish Power - to proceed to the next stage of
the current CCS demonstration competition. It is expected that
contracts for the detailed design stage will be concluded early
next year.
In addition, the European Commission has provisionally selected
Powerfuels to receive €180m to develop a pre-combustion CCS power
station at Hatfield. The Commission and Powerfuels are now
negotiating the terms of the funding.
WHY IS PLANNING REFORM NEEDED?
The draft NPSs, which will have full public consultation and
Parliamentary scrutiny, will guide the Infrastructure Planning
Commission to make faster and fairer decisions. They represent a
framework for the future of the UK's energy supplies,
which are at present being hampered by the current planning
system. For example:
* Renewables: The Scout Moor 65MW windfarm took nearly two years
to secure planning permission. The Fullabrook 66MW wind farm took
over 3 years to secure planning permission.
* Nuclear: Sizewell B took 6 years to secure planning consent,
cost £30 million and only 30 of the 340 inquiry days were devoted
to local issues. The new system will give greater opportunity for
local people.
* Gas Storage: The proposed Presall gas storage facility to store
1020 million cubic metres of gas (20% of current storage capacity)
was the subject of an application for planning permission in
November 2003; an appeal was rejected by CLG in October 2007 -
taking the process to four years.
* Electricity Networks: The North-Yorkshire grid upgrade, a major
high-voltage transmission line upgrade, took 96 months to secure
planning permission. This is an example of non-power station
energy infrastructure that can cause major delays to projects
intended to improve security of energy supply.
Notes for Editors:
1. The Energy National Policy Statements will be subject to
an extensive 15 week consultation between the 9th November and the
22nd February with the opportunity for the public to influence and
comment on these draft NPS at a national and local level.
Parliamentary scrutiny will follow the conclusion of this
consultation.
2. For more information on the draft energy NPSs and its
associated consultation programme please visit: www.energynpsconsultation.decc.gov.uk
3. The document "A framework for the development of
clean coal" is available here:
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/clean_coal/clean_coal.aspx
4. Today we're also publishing our guidance on
carbon capture readiness. This guidance is intended to give
practical advice on the type of information Section 36 applicants
need to submit to the Secretary of State to demonstrate that a
proposed new combustion plant can be built carbon capture ready
(CCR). The CCR requirements only apply to new combustion plant
which have an electrical generating capacity at or over 300 MW and
which are of a type covered by the Large Combustion Plant
Directive. The document is available here:
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/uk_supply/consents_planning/electricity/electricity.aspx
5. Department of Energy and Climate Change is central to the UK
Government's leadership on climate change. We are pushing
hard for an ambitious global deal in Copenhagen in December to
avert the most dangerous impacts. Through our UK Low Carbon
Transition Plan we are giving householders and businesses the
incentives and advice they need to cut their emissions, we are
enabling the energy sector's shift to the trinity of
renewables, new nuclear and clean coal, and we are stepping up the
fight against fuel poverty.
Reference: 2009/130
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