European pollution regulations may close 12 UK power plants by 2023

Britain could face at least 12 gigawatts (GW) of power plant capacity going offline by the end of 2023 due to tighter European Union pollution regulation, Reuters calculations based on government data showed yesterday.

Britain is at risk of a severe power capacity crunch in the 2020s as ageing nuclear power stations come to the end of their life and coal and gas plants shut because they cannot afford to add costly technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to comply with EU law.

Britain’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published a list of power plants whose operators have requested they are exempted from the EU’s Industrials Emissions Directive — meaning they are not slated for expensive upgrades and will therefore close over the next nine years.