Stay up-to-date with topical news and legislation from The Compliance People. Selected updates direct to your inbox.
Jurisdiction: Scotland
Commencement: 1st April 2024
Amends: The Renewables Obligation (Scotland) Order 2009
This Order imposes a Renewables Obligation (RO) on all electricity suppliers that supply electricity in Scotland to supply to a specified amount of electricity that has been generated using renewable sources. Renewable sources include sources of energy such as wind, water, solar and biomass.
If the supplier would rather not generate the renewable electricty itself, it can buy Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) (certificates awarded to generators of renewables electricity for every MWh of electricty they generate) from other suppliers, in effect demonstrating that renewable electricity has been generated on their befalf. Alternatively they can simply make payments to the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority to meet their obligation.
Part One brings together the definitions of waste as a renewable source and biomass.Waste constitutes a renewable source if not more than 90% of it is, or derived from fossil fuels.Biomass waste is a fuel where at least 90% of its energy content is derived from plant matter, animal matter, fungi or algae. The requirements for the use of municipal waste as a fuel have been simplified.
Part Two sets out how the renewables obligation is calculated and how suppliers can meet their obligation. The number of SROCs is established using calculations set out in articles 6 to 10. There are no numbers of obligations for electricity suppliers in Scotland as set out in Article 11.
Part Three sets out what has to be certified in a SROC, including what constitutes supply to a customer, or use under a permitted way. There is a new permitted way which is aimed at removing administrative burdens experienced by generators supplying over an unlicensed private transmission supply network.
Part Four sets out situations where SROCs should not be issued.
Part Five sets out how the amount of electricity attributable to eligible renewable sources is calculated. It is also simpler to claim ROCs for qualifying combined heat and power generation.
Part Six allows for generators of electricity from eligible renewable sources to receive a set number of SROCs for each MWh of electricity they generate. The number of SROCs issued, will depend upon the type of technology that is being used. There is also protection for the level of support for existing technologies which would otherwise be banded. Provisions have also been made, for regular reviews of the banding provisions at four year intervals with the first review occurring in October 2010.
Part Seven sets out the process for the issue or revocation of SROCs.
Part Eight deals with the stewardship of buyout and late payment funds. There are also regulations on how suppliers should pay into funds and how these will be distributed to suppliers.
Part Nine sets out the information required to be provided to the Authority, with new provisions relating to Biomass. It also requires a SROC register to be maintained by the Authority.
Scottish Ministers are now able to revise the renewables obligation for the obligation period beginning on 1st April 2024. A revision may only be made once, and cannot be made after 31st March 2024.
Definitions are revised to reflect these changes.
The Legislation Update Service is the best way to stay up to date automatically with legislation in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Sign up for your free trial to get instant access.
Jurisdiction: England, Wales & Scotland
Commencement: 1st April 2024
Amends: Electricity Supplier Obligations (Amendment & Excluded Electricity) Regulations 2015
Various duties apply.
The Secretary of State may refuse to issue, or revoke, an energy intensive industry (EII) certificate where an organisation is insolvent, or is likely to become insolvent.
This update has no direct relevance to environmental matters.
The Legislation Update Service is the best way to stay up to date automatically with legislation in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Sign up for your free trial to get instant access.
Jurisdiction: England, Wales, Scotland
Commencement: 24th July 2023
Amends: New legislation
The Electricity and Gas (Energy Company Obligation) Order 2023 establishes a new Energy Compliance Obligation (ECO) scheme, ECO4A, which operates in conjunction with the 4th Energy Compliance Obligation scheme (ECO4).
The scheme places duties on large energy suppliers* to implement energy efficiency measures to reduce the cost of heating domestic properties.
*Large energy suppliers are licenced gas and electricity suppliers** that exceed the minimum qualifying supply*** of electricity and gas supplied to domestic customers.
**Licenced gas and energy suppliers are suppliers who hold a licence under Section 6 of the Electricity Act 1989 and / or a licence under Section 7A of the Gas Act 1986.
***Qualifying supply means:
The scheme is split into 3 phases.
Various duties apply.
The Legislation Update Service is the best way to stay up to date automatically with legislation in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Sign up for your free trial to get instant access.
Jurisdiction: Great Britain
Commencement: 26th October 2022
Amends: The Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme Regulations 2018
Various duties apply.
The following apply to England, Scotland and Wales. These changes come into force on 16th November 2022.
Changes are made to the fuel quality requirements for wood pellets listed in Schedule 4A. These Regulations temporarily suspend the requirement for participants who use wood pellets as fuel for their biomass boilers to use ENplus A1 pellets.
Furthermore, this suspension of this requirement will apply for 12 months.
Powers are granted to the Secretary of State to temporarily suspend this requirement again, if needed in the future.
Additionally, changes are made to the ownership requirements in regulation 52A (Modification of installation capacity -shared ground loop systems). A participant who is not the owner, or one of the owners of an additional heat pump can make a capacity modification application to the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) if:
Tariff Guarantees (TG2 and TG3) and Coronavirus (COVID-19) extension applicants can file a plan to modify capacity on, or before 31st March 2023, without their plant being accredited by Ofgem. This is done to accommodate delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are no changes to duties for organisations.
The Legislation Update Service is the best way to stay up to date automatically with legislation in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Sign up for your free trial to get instant access.
Jurisdiction: United Kingdom
Commencement: 22nd July 2022
Amends: Energy Act 2013 (2013 c.32)
The Energy Act 2013 (2013 c.32) sets out the legislative framework that the Government will make Regulations from in the coming years to ensure that the UK will generate enough secure, affordable and low-carbon energy to meet increasing demand. As well as cost and capacity issues, these forthcoming policies also consider the UK’s Climate Change Act 2008 commitments and legally-binding EU renewables targets. The Act introduces Contract for Difference, a key part of the Electricity Market Reform (EMR) programme.
Various duties apply.
Technical changes are made to the Contracts for Difference (CFD) scheme*. Changes are made to The Contracts for Difference (Allocation) Regulations 2014 and The Electricity Market Reform (General) Regulations 2014 to reflect this.
*The CFD scheme is a private contract between low-carbon electricity generators and the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC). It is the UK Government’s main mechanism for supporting low-carbon electricity generation.
The Contracts for Difference (Allocation) Regulations 2014 is amended to require floating offshore wind generating stations to provide a supply chain statement when applying for a CFD.
Regulation 11 (Providing supply chain statements or refusing applications) of The Electricity Market Reform (General) Regulations 2014 is updated to clarify that an approved plan is valid for 9 months.
The Legislation Update Service is the best way to stay up to date automatically with legislation in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Sign up for your free trial to get instant access.
Jurisdiction: UK
Commencement:
The following sections of the Act will commence on Royal Assent (30th December 2020):
The other provisions will commence on the day or days appointed by regulations.
Amends:
This Act implements into legislation ‘Agreements‘ that have been agreed between the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) following the UK’s departure from the EU:
The Act is required to implement the Agreements for them to have domestic legal effect and to enable the UK Government to consent to the Agreements. It also enables the implementation of future arrangements and agreements.
The applicability to health and safety relates to Part 2 of the Act, specifically disclosure and sharing of non-food product safety information within the UK and with the EU.
Non-food product safety information includes the compliance of products, as well as whether they are safe, and the information listed in Article TBT.9(3) of the TCA and information under the Annexes on chemicals and motor vehicles to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement:
This Act provides a way for the UK to share non-food product safety information received from the European Commission with the ‘appropriate person‘ so that the information can be used for the protection of consumers and others.
Where a relevant authority, i.e. a Government Minister or the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), receives non-food product safety information from the European Commission, they can disclose non-food product safety information received from the EU for a permitted purpose. The following are permitted purposes:
There is no restriction on who the information can be shared with, provided it is for the permitted purpose. In practice, it is expected that this information will be shared with public authorities, such as market surveillance authorities and the Crown Dependencies, as part of their inclusion in the TCA.
A person who receives non-food product safety information from the EU may only use the information for a permitted purpose and is not able to further disclose the information except with the consent of the relevant authority.
The Act also provides a way for a Government Minister or the HSE to share with the European Commission information which relates to non-food product safety for the purpose of the TCA. The TCA establishes contact points through which this information will be exchanged between the UK Government and the European Commission.
There are no direct compliance duties for organisations in this Act.
The Legislation Update Service is the best way to stay up to date automatically with legislation in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Sign up for your free trial to get instant access.
Jurisdiction: England and Wales
Commencement: 31 March 2021
Amends: The Renewables Obligation Order 2015
The Legislation Update Service is the best way to stay up to date automatically with legislation in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Sign up for your free trial to get instant access.
Jurisdiction: England, Wales
Commencement: 2nd December 2020
Amends: The Planning Act 2008
The Planning Act 2008 intends to speed up the process for approving major new infrastructure projects such as airports, roads, harbours, energy facilities such as nuclear power and waste facilities. Parts 1 to 8 of the Act creates a new system of development consent for nationally significant infrastructure projects. The new system covers certain types of energy, transport, water, waste water and waste projects. The number of applications and permits required for such projects is being reduced, compared with the position under current legislation.
The 2008 Act sets out criteria for when infrastructure projects need to seek planning consent from the Secretary of State under the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime, as opposed to consent from the Local Planning Authority.
To support the move to net zero emissions by 2050, these Regulations remove electricity storage facilities*, except for pumped hydroelectric storage facilities, from the requirement to obtain planning consent in accordance with the NSIP regime under the 2008 Act. Instead, planning consent for these types of development is to be obtained from the relevant Local Planning Authority under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. This will make it a simpler process for larger scale storage facilities to get planning permission.
*An ‘electricity storage facility’ is a type of energy storage power station that uses batteries to store generated electrical energy.
The NSIP regime is partly in place for projects where the benefits of infrastructure are national whilst the impacts are more local in nature. The exemption from the NSIP regime does not apply to pumped hydroelectric storage facilities due to the larger planning impacts of this technology.
Provisions are put in place by Article 5 for existing submitted and accepted applications to develop generating stations which contain an exempt electricity storage facility before this Order comes into force on 2nd December 2020. For these applications, the process continues as set out in the 2008 Act.
Article 6 puts provisions in place for development consent orders given for generating stations which contain an exempt electricity storage facility. The requirements of these development consent orders continue to apply and follow the process set out in the 2008 Act.
Provisions relating to applications to develop generating stations which contain an electricity storage facility that have been refused by the Secretary of State before this Order comes into force are set out in Article 7. The ability to challenge this refusal as set out in the 2008 Act continues to apply.
The Legislation Update Service is the best way to stay up to date automatically with legislation in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Sign up for your free trial to get instant access.