Are you an air quality professional? Have your say on the UK coal plant phase out
The government’s decision to close all unabated coal-fired power stations by 2025 could have a perverse effect on air quality.
For coal plants, it's a choice between shutting down or working towards meeting tougher emissions standards.
Currently, only three plants are on their way to closing down in the next ten years, all of them this March. The remaining eight are working towards the target of emitting no more than 200mg/m3 of NOx by mid-2020.
This may be achieved through fitting an SNCR system. But new EU conclusions on best available techniques, still unpublished, may effectively mandate using more expensive, but also more effective SCR systems. This could enter force in early 2021.
Economic arguments could be made to avoid installing SCR before the 2025 phase-out. This would come at the cost of more NOx than would be emitted had the energy secretary Amber Rudd not made the announcement late last year.
As an environmental professional, what do you think about the end of unabated coal-fired power stations and the effect it will have on emissions of NOx, particulates and other pollutants?
Do you think that the expected new dash for gas will be delivered in time to keep the phase-out on-schedule?
How else should the government be working towards lowering NOx emissions?
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