European Union Drops Energy Regulations

It now seems that pressure from the British government and energy companies has encouraged the European Union to drop new energy regulations. These are the same regulations that could have led to the closure of Drax and many other heavily polluting coal fired power stations within six years.

The sector was going to be facing tougher emissions targets but has been given an extra three years’ grace period, or until 2019. Britain argued it faced an energy crunch before large scale wind farms and nuclear stations came on stream closer to 2020.

This lifeline for half a dozen coal and gas fired power facilities has, of course, angered green groups. It is still a very welcomed event by many power providers. The decision does follow a vote on the industrial emissions directive in the European parliament’s committee on environment, public health and food safety in Brussels. This does have to be endorsed by the parliament in July but is unlikely to be rejected.

A lot of environmental groups have argued that the new regulation should be enforced as soon as possible to ensure that Britain and Europe meet their climate change goals. Ruth Davis, chief policy adviser at Greenpeace UK, said that extending the life of these coal plants will slow down investment in the low carbon economy. It will set everyone back in the clean technology race. Europe should take its lead from Spain, which is already generating half of its electricity needs from wind power. They are not clinging to outdated technologies like dirty coal.

The government, large power companies and the Confederation of British Industry say that energy generators need longer to comply with the directive to give them enough time to build other low carbon energy sources to prevent a wider energy supply crunch. Without this extra time, the people of Britain could be in real trouble as far as energy goes.