Publication of draft national policy statements

On 9 November 2009, six draft National Policy Statements (NPSs) for the energy sector were published by DECC for consultation.

Under the Planning Act 2008, the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) must decide applications for development consent under the Act in accordance with the policies in the NPSs. If the development contributes to meeting the significant need for new major energy infrastructure, and is in accordance with the NPS, then except in limited circumstances, the IPC should grant consent.

The Six NPSs

The six NPSs published comprise one Overarching NPS for Energy (EN-1) and one NPS for each of the following areas:

  • Fossil Fuel Electricity Generating Infrastructure (EN-2)
  • Renewable Energy Infrastructure (EN-3)
  • Gas Supply Infrastructure and Gas and Oil Pipelines (EN-4)
  • Electricity Networks Infrastructure (EN-5)
  • Nuclear Power Generation (EN-6)

The draft Overarching Energy NPS sets out the Government's energy policy, explains the significant need for new major energy infrastructure and contains the key principles that the IPC should adhere to when examining and determining applications for energy infrastructure. The other draft energy NPSs contain supplementary information for specific types of infrastructure.

Key points

Of particular note from the NPSs are the following:

New Nuclear Build

The Nuclear NPS differs from the others in being site-specific. It only has effect in relation to applications for the development of new nuclear power stations on the sites listed in the Nuclear NPS. These comprise ten of the eleven nominated sites, with Dungeness being the one site which was excluded. None of the three "alternative" sites considered by the Government following a screening exercise carried out by Atkins Ltd has been included in the draft Nuclear NPS as the Government concluded that none is a credible site for the deployment of a new nuclear power station by the end of 2025.

The following points are also noteworthy:

  • The Government has emphasised the need for the early deployment of new nuclear generation, that the ten sites should not be considered as alternatives to each other and that nuclear should be free to contribute as much as possible towards meeting the need for 25 GW of new non-renewable capacity by 2025
  • The Government has concluded that effective arrangements will exist to manage and dispose of the waste that will be produced from new nuclear power stations, meaning that the IPC need not consider this issue

A consultation on whether 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 was also launched on Monday

CCS and CCR

The draft NPS reflects both DECC's response to the consultation on "A framework for the development of clean coal", which sets out the requirement for new coal-fired generating stations in England and Wales to have Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) on at least 300MW net of the proposed generating capacity, and the requirement for all new combustion plants which are of a generating capacity equal to or over 300MW and which are of a type covered by the EU's Large Combustion Plant Directive to demonstrate Carbon Capture Readiness (CCR).

Deadline for Response to Consultation on NPSs

The deadline for responding to the consultation is 22nd February 2010 but the Government has stated that The Parliamentary Select Committee is only likely to be able to take account of consultation responses that are received by the Government before 15 January 2010.

Further information

  • To view the relevant documents on DECC's website, please click here.

This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq

Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.

The original publication date for this article was 11/11/2009.