The Renewables Obligation Order 2009
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
2009 No. 785
Electricity, England And Wales
The Renewables Obligation Order 2009
Made 24th March 2009
Coming into force 1st April 2009
This Order is made by the Secretary of State in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 32 to 32M of the Electricity Act 19891.
The Secretary of State has had regard to those matters stated in section 32D(4) of that Act.
The Secretary of State has consulted the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority, the Gas and Electricity Consumer Council, electricity suppliers to whom this Order applies, and such generators of electricity from renewable sources and other persons as considered appropriate in accordance with section 32L(1) of that Act.
In accordance with section 32L(2) of that Act a draft of this instrument was laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.
Accordingly the Secretary of State makes the following Order:
PART 1
Introductory provisions
Citation, commencement and extent
1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Renewables Obligation Order 2009 and comes into force on 1st April 2009.
(2) This Order extends to England and Wales only.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In this Order—
“the Act” means the Electricity Act 1989;
“accreditation”, in relation to a generating station, means accreditation of the station as one which is capable of generating electricity from renewable sources by the Authority or the Northern Ireland authority (and includes an accreditation granted before 1st April 2009);
“anaerobic digestion” means the bacterial fermentation of organic material in the absence of free oxygen;
“biomass” is to be construed in accordance with article 4;
“CEN/TS 15359:2006” means the document identified by Standard Number DD CEN/TS 15359 and entitled “Solid recovered fuels. Specifications and classes” published by the European Committee for Standardisation on 30th June 20062;
“CEN/TS 15402:2006” means the document identified by Standard Number DD CEN/TS 15402 and entitled “Solid recovered fuels. Methods for the determination of the content of volatile matter” published by the European Committee for Standardisation on 30th November 20063;
“CEN/TS 15415:2006” means the document identified by Standard Number DD CEN/TS 15415 and entitled “Solid recovered fuels. Determination of particle size and particle size distribution by screen method” published by the European Committee for Standardisation on 30th November 20064;
“CEN/TS 15590:2007” means the document identified by Standard Number DD CEN/TS 15590 and entitled “Solid recovered fuels. Determination of potential rate of microbial self heating using the real dynamic respiration” published by the European Committee for Standardisation on 29th June 20075;
“CHPQA” means the Combined Heat and Power Quality Assurance Standard, Issue 3, January 2009, as published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and Guidance Note 44 (Use of CHPQA to obtain Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) Including Under a Banded Obligation (expected to apply from April 2009)), published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change;
“civil works”, in relation to a hydro generating station, are to be regarded as all man-made structures, and man-made works for holding water which are located on the inlet side of a turbine (turbine A), excluding any such structures or works which supply another turbine before water is supplied to the structures and works which supply turbine A;
“combined heat and power generating station” means a station which generates electricity and is (or may be) operated for purposes including the supply to any premises of—
(a) heat produced in association with electricity; or
(b) steam produced from, or air or water heated by, such heat;
“commissioned”, in relation to a generating station, means the completion of such procedures and tests in relation to that station as constitute, at the time they are undertaken, the usual industry standards and practices for commissioning that type of generating station in order to demonstrate that that generating station is capable of commercial operation;
“connected person”, in relation to the owner or operator of a generating station, or any party to a NFFO arrangement, means any person connected to the owner, operator or party within the meaning of section 839 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 19886;
“declared net capacity”, in relation to a generating station, means the maximum capacity at which the station could be operated for a sustained period without causing damage to it (assuming the source of power used by it to generate electricity was available to it without interruption) less the amount of electricity that is consumed by the plant;
“designated electricity supplier” is to be construed in accordance with article 5(1);
“electricity interconnector” means so much of an electric line or other electric plant as subsists wholly or primarily for the purposes of the conveyance of electricity between a transmission or distribution system in Great Britain and an equivalent system in another country (including Northern Ireland);
“energy content”, in relation to any substance, means the energy contained within that substance (whether measured by a calorimeter or determined in some other way) expressed in terms of the substance’s gross calorific value within the meaning of British Standard BS 7420:1991 (Guide for determination of calorific values of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels (including definitions) published by the British Standard Institute on 28th June 19917);
“energy crops” means a plant crop planted after 31st December 1989 which is grown primarily for the purpose of being used as fuel or which is one of the following—
(a) miscanthus giganteus (a perennial grass);
(b) salix (also known as short rotation coppice willow);
(c) populus (also known as short rotation coppice poplar);
“gasification” means the substoichiometric oxidation or steam reformation of a substance to produce a gaseous mixture containing two or all of the following: oxides of carbon, methane and hydrogen;
“hazardous waste” means any waste which is hazardous waste as defined by Article 1(4) of the Hazardous Waste Directive;
“Hazardous Waste Directive” means Council Directive 91/689/EECon hazardous waste8, as amended by Council Directive 94/31/EC9;
“hydro generating station” means a generating station driven by water (other than a generating station driven by tidal flows, waves, ocean currents or geothermal sources) and includes all turbines supplied with water by or from the same civil works, except any turbine driven by a compensation flow supplied by or from those civil works in a natural water course where there is a statutory obligation to maintain that compensation flow in that water course (in which case that turbine and associated infrastructure is to be regarded as a separate hydro generating station);
“landfill” has the meaning given in Article 2(g) of Council Directive 1999/31/EC10;
“landfill gas” means gas formed by the digestion of material in a landfill;
“large hydro generating station” means a hydro generating station which has, or has had at any time since 1st April 2002, a declared net capacity of more than 20 megawatts;
“linked person”, in relation to a person who is a party to a NFFO arrangement (“the first person”), means another person who has given or who has arranged to give to the first person or has ensured or arranged to ensure that the first person is given, a financial or other inducement relating to any right or interest in, or in respect of, the construction or operation of a generating station at the location;
“microgenerator” means a generating station which has a declared net capacity of 50 kilowatts or less;
“micro hydro generating station” means a hydro generating station which—
(a) has a declared net capacity of 1.25 megawatts or less; and
(b) has never generated electricity under an arrangement which has ever been a qualifying arrangement as defined in section 33 of the Act (as that section was originally enacted);
“NFFO arrangement” means an arrangement which was originally made pursuant to a Non-Fossil Fuel Order (and includes any replacement of such an arrangement where that replacement was made pursuant to an order made under section 67 of the Utilities Act 200011);
“NIRO Order” means any order made under Articles 52 to 55F of the Northern Ireland Energy Order;
“nominated person” has the same meaning as it has in the Electricity from Non-Fossil Fuel Sources Saving Arrangements Order 200012or in the Electricity from Non-Fossil Fuels Sources (Scotland) Saving Arrangements Order 200513(as the case may be);
“Non-Fossil Fuel Order” means any of the following Orders: the Electricity (Non-Fossil Fuel Sources) (England and Wales) Order 199414; the Electricity (Non-Fossil Fuel Sources) (Scotland) Order 199415; the Electricity (Non-Fossil Fuel Sources) (England and Wales) Order 199716; the Electricity (Non-Fossil Fuel Sources) (Scotland) Order 199717; the Electricity (Non-Fossil Fuel Sources) (England and Wales) Order 199818; and the Electricity (Non-Fossil Fuel Sources) (Scotland) Order 199919;
“Northern Ireland certificate” means a renewables obligation certificate issued by the Northern Ireland authority under the Northern Ireland Energy Order and pursuant to a NIRO Order;
“Northern Ireland Energy Order” means the Energy (Northern Ireland) Order 200320;
“obligation period” means any of the periods referred to in the first column of Schedule 1;
“offshore waters” means—
(a) waters in or adjacent to the United Kingdom which are between the mean low water mark and the seaward limits of the territorial sea, and
(b) waters within an area designated under section 1(7) of the Continental Shelf Act 196421;
“on land”, in relation to the location of a generating station, means wholly or partly on land above mean high...
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