Combustion plants: changes to applicable regulations

There is an error in your domain name. Please check it or contact Tennaxia support.

You will be redirected to the Tennaxia ESG login interface.

Please note: This article concerns French legislation. The requirements described may not apply in other countries.

‍

Directive (EU) 2015/2193 of 25 November 2015 on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from medium combustion plants has been transposed into French law. Here is an overview of the key changes and the steps required to ensure compliance by 20 December 2018.

The Directive (EU) 2015/2193 of 25 November 2015 was transposed into French law through the publication of several texts:

A decree amending, in particular, heading 2910 of the ICPE nomenclature;
Five ministerial orders defining the requirements applicable to facilities classified under 2910 and 3110;
An order adding new attachments to the ICPE registration application;
An order extending the application of cost-benefit analysis provisions to registered facilities to assess the feasibility of recovering waste heat through a heating or cooling network.

Amendment of heading 2910 of the ICPE nomenclature

As of 20 December 2018, heading 2910 of the ICPE nomenclature will change:

The rated thermal input threshold is lowered from 2 MW to 1 MW for facilities subject to declaration under sub-heading 2910-A (natural gas, LPG, fuel oil, etc.). Consequently, facilities with a rated thermal input of 1 MW or more and less than 20 MW are subject to declaration with periodic inspection (DC).
The authorization regime is abolished for sub-heading 2910-A. Instead, a registration regime is introduced for combustion plants with a rated thermal input of 20 MW or more and less than 50 MW.
Activities covered by headings 2931 (internal combustion engines, combustion turbines) and 3110 (combustion of fuels in installations with a total rated thermal input of 50 MW or more) are excluded. As a result, facilities can no longer be classified under both headings 2910 and 3110, which helps distinguish combustion plants regulated under the provisions of the MCP Directivefrom those regulated by the provisions of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).
Sub-headings 2910-A and 2910-C have been merged, bringing facilities that consume biogas from installations classified under heading 2781-1 into the scope of heading 2910-A. The classification of these facilities now depends on their power output rather than the classification of the facility producing the biogas.
The classification thresholds for sub-heading 2910-B have been modified. The registration threshold for sub-heading 2910-B-1 has been raised from 0.1 MW to 1 MW. However, the authorization threshold remains at 0.1 MW for sub-heading 2910-B-2.

Combustion plants newly subject to ICPE regulations (1 to 2 MW)

Due to the lowering of the declaration threshold for sub-heading 2910-A, combustion plants with a rated thermal input between 1 MW and 2 MW are now subject to ICPE regulations. They are classified as declaration with periodic inspection (DC) under heading 2910.

These facilities must notify the prefect by December 20, 2019. To do so, they must use the online declaration service or Cerfa form no. 15274*02.

They must also comply with the provisions applicable to existing declared facilities, particularly the ministerial order on general requirements.

Combustion plants: steps to take to comply with the new rules

Several actions must be taken to comply with these regulatory changes:

Assess the power output of your combustion plants
Review your ICPE classification, if necessary
Apply for grandfathering rights, if applicable
Determine the ministerial order(s) applicable to your facilities
Implement the requirements set by the orders (requirements applicable to existing facilities)
Anticipate the necessary modifications to your combustion plants to comply with emission limit values by the set deadlines (2025 or 2030, depending on the case)