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Advice to BPE Design & Support Ltd

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Enquiry

From
BPE Design & Support Ltd
Date advice given
4 October 2010
Enquiry type
Email

Dear Sir/Madam

I am currently working on the outline design for a 50 MWatt biomass power station in Southern England and would appreciate your advice regarding the Registered Generator Capacity in respect to exemption of Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989.

Consent procedures are as below, my understanding of the definition of 50 megawatts is;

·The maximum amount of Active Power deliverable by the Power Station at the Grid Entry Point (or in the case of an Embedded Power Station at the User System Entry Point), as declared by the Generator, expressed in whole MW. The maximum active power deliverable is the maximum amount deliverable simultaneously by the Generating Units and/or CCGT Modules less the MW consumed by the Generating Units and/or CCGT Modules in producing that active power.

I would be most grateful if you could confirm if this interpretation is correct or if not please advise accordingly.

Consent procedures

  1. A generator promoting a new power station of over 50 megawatts generation capacity would seek consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. Although such an application would be separate from any associated transmission works, discussions between the generator and National Grid normally take place at an early stage. Indeed, National Grid would encourage prospective generators to consult it in advance of the consent process so that transmission and consent implications of the project can be fully considered.

Advice given

Your query states " A generator promoting a new power station of over 50 megawatts generation capacity would seek consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989". Since March 2010, the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) has been accepting applications seeking development consent for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects or NSIPS, that fall within Part 3 of the Planning Act 2008 ("the Act"). In particular, the sections below of Part 3 of the Act are relevant to your query: In accordance with section15 (2) of the Act, a generating station would be considered a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) if the following criteria are met;

(a) it is in England or Wales, (b) it is not an offshore generating station, and (c ) its capacity is more than 50 megawatts.

We appreciate that you are looking for clarification about the Commission's jurisdiction. However, whilst the Commission has a power under s51 of the Act to give advice about the general process for applying for an order granting development consent, or making representations about an application (or proposed application) for such an order, we are unable to provide a legal opinion as to whether development consent is required or on the interpretation of legislation. The Commission is only able to formally determine whether Development Consent is required for a project when we consider whether an application should be accepted under s55 of the Act.

We strongly advise applicants to seek their own legal advice on which they can rely. You are therefore encouraged to seek your own legal opinion as to whether development consent is needed on the basis that the proposed scheme has the capacity to generate above the 50 mw threshold. Without prejudice to consideration of any NSIP application which may be submitted we will subsequently be pleased to offer any further comment as appropriate on such a justification.

I have attached a link to the IPC's policy on giving section 51 advice:

http://infrastructure.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Policy-on-s.51-advice-giving.pdf

And a link to the Planning Act 2008:

http://infrastructure.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/ukpga_20080029_en.pdf