Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to review Best Available Techniques permissible with respect to environmental permits for back-up electricity generating plant.

Back-up electricity generating plants with a rated thermal input of 20MW or more are currently regulated under the Environmental Permitting Regulations. Guidance on Best Available Techniques that plants should use is periodically reviewed. The Best Available Techniques for plants with a rated thermal input above 50MW are currently being reviewed. Research is also being undertaken to assess Best Available Technique for combustion plants operating in the capacity market.

Defra is reviewing environmental legislation for back-up generators and will consult on options to set emissions for relevant air pollutants for some plants such as diesel engines. We will consider the coherence of existing legislation with measures we will be introducing as a result of the review and the Medium Combustion Plant Directive.